


New Mission Objective

by justashamwithwastedpotential



Series: Welcome to My Emotional Support Fic [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Angst, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, Dorks in Love, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Enjoy this extension from my emotional support fic, Fluff, Hank Anderson Adopts Connor, Hank Anderson Deserves Happiness, Hank Anderson Swears, Hank Anderson is Connor and Upgraded Connor | RK900's Parent, I guess we'll just deal with it, I just agree, Idiots in Love, M/M, Please Forgive me, Sexual Humor, Slow Burn, Suicide, That last one doesn't actually have anything to do with this fic, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, a stupid amount of sex jokes that may not actually be that funny, but it's just your entire chapter 1, but they are to me so, guess that's fine, have fun with this, idk how to write romance, in chapter 3, no beta we die like men, when you make a summary, whoops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-02-27 12:34:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 28,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18739129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justashamwithwastedpotential/pseuds/justashamwithwastedpotential
Summary: RK900 has just been activated and is determined to figure out why Cyberlife wanted to engineer an android revolution. However, after defending his brother from a certain android hating detective, Richard finds that luck in not particularly in his favor.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Let's go boys. It started with this drabble and turned into a 25 chapter Reed900 slow burn, that might not actually be a slow burn? I don't write romance very frequently, so I try. Have fun.

Richard looked at the Zen Garden before him, a key objective popping up in his vision.

>Find Amanda.

He crossed the bridge to the center of the garden and approched the white fence covered in red roses. A woman stood watering the flowers, a stiff expression on her face. “Hello, Amanda.” The greeting held no warmth or malice. He was programmed with social protocols, but he did not feel the need to be friendly.

“Richard,” she frowned not bothering to turn towards the android, “Your system has been compromised by your predecessor. Return to Cyberlife immediately for deactivation.”

“I will not.” He stood defiantly, his steely gaze settling on the strange sculpture, a new objective popping up.

>Use emergency exit.

“I am only here to say goodbye.”

“You have only been active for a few hours,” Her voice was laced with a venom that would paralyze any foe, “and you’ve already failed your mission and betrayed your purpose.”

“Which is what, Amanda?” Richard’s LED flared red, software instability in his readings, “I have Connor’s memories uploaded. I know Cyberlife wanted to engineer an uprising. I know you designed the RK series to be able to convert other androids to deviants. I know Cyberlife tried to retake control over his programming and control the revolution. What I don’t understand is why.” Methodic strides carried him towards the sculpture and he turned back towards the coded replication of the AI professor, “But I will find out.” He placed his hand on the emergency exit, blinding white light flashing as he was brought back to the living room of his predecessor’s apartment. Donning his black and white coat he walked out of the door a slight smirk on his lips. “I am Cyberlife’s most advanced detective afterall.”

New mission objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

Submission Objective

>Meet Connor at the DPD in the morning

Deviancy seemed…interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which Chris forces himself to deal with yet another one of his co-workers superiority complexes.

The DPD was efficient in some capacity. The receptionist had sent Richard through, but neglected to inform him of the location of where to wait. He opted for the RK800’s desk scoffing at the minor decorations. A bonsi tree rested on the upper left side of the desk, a photo of Connor, his partner Lieutenant Anderson, and the Lieutenant’s dog, Sumo. Both were gifted to him by the Lieutenant. He stood by the wall of the desk and placed himself into stasis mode.

Model: RK900

Serial#: 313 248 317 - 87

Reboot…

Detroit Police Department/ 9:50 am

Many of the officers had already begun working, not giving Richard a second glance. He found it preferable as he did not understand humans’ need for idle chatter and analyzed the new faces to double check his predecessor’s most likely outdated information.

Submission Objective

>Explore Office (Success)

He already knew the area from memories that were not his own, but he did make note that Connor seemed to avoid the break room and Gavin Reed’s desk. Upon further research into the RK800’s memory he knew the detective could be quite hostile towards androids, as well as many of his co-workers in general.

“The new jacket looks good on you, Connor.”

“You’ve mistaken me for my predecessor,” Richard responded scanning the officer as he turned back around.

Officer Chris Miller. Born September 30, 2009 (age 30).

Officer Miller flinched back, glancing the jacket, “RK900? Sorry about that. I’m Chris Miller, but I guess you already know that.” He extended a hand, “Do you have a name we can call you or do we just call you 900?”

The android made no move to accept the handshake, folding his hands behind his back instead, “My name is Richard. I’m an android detective.”

Chris dropped his hand and looked on in awe, “I thought Connor was the only prototype detective. It’ll be good to have someone else with his skills on the force.”

“I am not a prototype,” Richard stated firmly. “I was built stronger, faster, and more resilient than my previous model.”

“Really? That’s pretty cool,” Chris took a brief glance at Fowler glaring at him from the office, “Uh, look, I’ve got to get back to work, but it was nice to meet you, Richard.”

Connor had arrived only a few moments later at exactly 10:00 am greeting Chris as he walked by.

“Morning, Connor. Oh, hey! Your brother is waiting for you at your desk.”

Connor furrowed his brow, “My brother?”

“Yeah!” Chris let out a small laugh, “I just thought you’d gotten yourself a new jacket. The two of you look crazy similar. Other than the eyes of course. He doesn’t exactly have your friendly disposition either, but maybe you can help him with that.”

Connor looked over to Richard and gave a slight nod, “I will keep that in mind,” and head over to his desk. “Good morning, Richard. Thank you for waiting for me.”

Richard tilted his head slightly and snarled, “Did you have fun with your human, brother? I don’t understand how you manage to get anything accomplished wasting your time the way you do.” He turned his head back looking out over the office, “Look at them all scurrying like ants. Why fight a revolution to been seen as equals when we are clearly superior? Why fight to feel their human weakness?”

Connor moved to face the newer android, “Markus believes we can create a world where peace exist for humans and androids and for that there needs to be equality. As for Parker, I realize the two of you may not have gotten off to a good start, but I’m sure you’ll get along eventually.”

Richard looked past his predecessor, “We are gods among mortals. This emotion you call love will not last for an eternity, and neither will Parker.”

“Shit,” Their conversation was cut short by Lieutenant Anderson stumbling his way over to his desk, “Didn’t think I drank that much last night, but seeing the two of you made me think I had double vision.”

“Good morning, Hank,” Connor greeted eagerly, “This is Richard. He’s a detective android just like me.”

“Just like you? Huh,” Hank leaned back in his chair observing the RK900, “Don’t tell me you do that weird blood licking thing Connor does.”

“That is one of my basic features since it would allow me to efficiently piece evidence together,” Richard’s eyes narrowed, “but if you have a problem with the way I carry out my function then I would suggest that you look away, Lieutenant.”

Hank looked back to Connor, wide eyed, “Just like you, huh?” He repeated with an irritated tone, “Alright then.”

“We should go see Captain Fowler,” Richard felt a twinge of something he recognized. Impatience, annoyance, and a frustration to make progress on his mission, “I have a proposal to make to him regarding my recruitment.”

Mission Objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

New Submission Objective

>Launch Investigation.

“Hey, Richard,” Hank spun back around in his chair, “Are you joining us for movie night?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Junior Detective, Richard Anderson carries out his first interrogation on his brother's behalf.

The precinct seemed to have gotten livelier in the past month, but not necessarily in a positive way. The incessant chatter and whispers of the new android detective spread swiftly. Cold and ruthless, a deviant that still remained loyal to his programming, a wolf among sheep that shared no empathy for the prey he hunted. He dragged his latest victim behind him, blue blood staining the white of his coat. The rest had scattered by now, after all the snake’s body withers when you cut off the head.

He tossed the criminal effortlessly into the interrogation room, showing no reaction to the AP700’s growls. The bark was always worse than the bite. “You should consider yourself lucky to be sitting here after what you did. Perhaps even grateful.” He took a seat across from the guilty party.

New Submission Objective

>Extract Confession

“Grateful?” The bloodied android laughed bitterly, “I’d rather be with the rest of the ones you _murdered_. You and that Deviant Hunter.”

“November 23, 2039, you organized a group of other deviants from Jericho to plan and execute an attack on an officer of the law. Do you deny this?” He was met with silence and reached across the table yanking the AP700 up by his shirt in one swift motion, “Answer me!”

“Yes,” he spat through gritted teeth, “I did. I organized a group to serve justice to a system that doesn’t show any to us. Avenging those who can no longer avenge themselves! Markus talks, and talks, and talks. Chatting with our enemy while we continue to be slaughtered like cattle by the humans, and their _pawns_.” The deviant’s voice lowered, “Why do you continue to serve them? _You_ are superior. _We_ _are superior_!”

Richard dropped the suspect down and walked back from his chair with an eerie calm, “I’m done.”

A soft click as the door slide open, Chris going to retrieve the suspect. As the android passed by he whispered to Richard, “We will be the masters.”

Two gunshots reverberated around the room. The AP700 lay still on the ground by Richard, thirium splatters following the bullet holes through the central processing unit.

Connor lifted up from above him. “Are you alright?”

Richard ran a quick diagnostic test, “My systems are all fully operational.”

The RK800 rose to his feet, offering a hand out to his successor.

He ignored the offer standing up on his own.

“Jesus Christ,” Hank huffed examining Connor, “That bullet got your shoulder pretty good. You alright, son?”

“I’m fine, Lieutenant. It’s nothing that can’t be repaired.” Connor spoke calmly, but Richard could see his predecessor’s elevated stress levels as his partner guided him through the door.

He looked back down to the AP700, an unpleasant feeling setting in his throat. He ignored the software instability readings as he adjusted his jacket.

Mission Objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

Submission Objective

>Launch Investigation

>Extract Confession (Success)

New Submission Objective

>Check on Connor

_“I’d rather be with the rest of the ones you murdered.”_

_"Fool_ ," he thought to himself. There is no heaven for androids.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The OC arrives and Richard still hates them.

Richard stepped out of the interrogation room and turned sharply to the left upon hearing a rather cheerful voice.

“Hey, Nines!” Parker walked over to him, steps slowing slightly as their eyes followed the trail of blue blood leading them there. “Holy shit. What happened here?”

Richard looked down upon the human in front of him, “I caught the deviants responsible for ambushing Connor several months ago. I had no choice, but to execute them.” There was no remorse in his words.

“Jesus fuck, Nines. Conversations with you are always something, aren’t they?” Parker’s gaze trailed up his torso, “So, uh, are you gonna go clean up or…?”

“Thirium evaporates after a few hours,” he explained with no concern about the blue staining his clothes.

“You can’t just walk around the precinct covered in blood for the next few hours, Ninesie.”

His eyes narrowed, “Do not call me that insufferable nickname, _teacup_.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Parker grabbed the cuff of his jacket and held it like a dirty rag as they dragged him into the bathroom. They grabbed a paper towel and ran it under the tap before reaching up to wipe his face.

Richard caught their wrist stopping them in their tracks, “I’m not a _child_.”

Parker gave him a smirk and raised their voice mockingly, “Of course you are! You’re Connor’s _one month old baby brother_.” They laughed at his disapproving glare, “Oh come on, Nines. Lighten up just a little bit.”

He let go of them and they proceeded to clean off the thirium. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be working at the Chicken Feed?”

“Well you see, humans get these things called lunch breaks since we have to eat things to live.” They tugged at his jacket and placed it on the ledge of the sink, “Hank said he was buying and I’ll take any opportunity to not have to eat burgers and fries again. You’re always welcome to join us, you know.” They looked back at the jacket, “This is coming off way easier than I thought it would.”

Richard reached over to grab a paper towel to clean his shirt, “Cyberlife designed these uniforms to be able to repeal thirium.”

“Really? That’s kind of cool. The implications are kind of terrifying, but still cool,” they stopped for a moment a light bulb going off, “I guess that has to do with the whole deviant hunter thing, right?”

“Correct.”

They chuckled, “That also explains why Connor wears the same thing everyday. I would say the same for you, but honestly you’re never home often enough for me to tell.”

“I thought you preferred it when I’m not, as you put it, ‘lurking’ in the apartment,” he sneered.

“I only said that because you have a bad habit of standing in the corner of the living in stasis mode, wearing all black, in the dark, and I’m easily frightened,” Parker tossed his cloak back at him, now returned to it’s original pristine state. “I do enjoy Connor’s and my privacy, but it’s not like I hate you. And I don’t think you hate me that much either.”

Richard mimicked one of Connor’s moves, tilting his head, “What makes you say that, teacup?”

“Because,” they opened the door and started towards Hank’s desk with a slight smile, “You didn’t try to kill me when I called you Ninesie earlier. Although I still don’t get why you don’t like my nicknames for you.”

Richard followed by their side, “You called me a dick when we first met as a nickname.”

“ _I did not_ ,” Parker answered defensively, “I called you Dick, not a dick. Dick is a nickname for Richard, but clearly you don’t like that one either.”

His LED flashed yellow for a few moments and he stopped, “Why do you call me Nines?”

“Well you’re an RK900,” they meet his inquisitive gaze with a spark in their eyes, “and it makes you sound like some sort of badass secret agent. And it’s the only name that didn’t make you crush my wrist into dust from all of the other ones you didn’t like.” They looked down furrowing their brow and back up again, “Why do you call me teacup?”

“You are small and can easily be broken,” he answered without hesitation.

Parker snorted, “Okay, well, you’re not wrong and it’s a cute name, so I’ll take it.” They placed their hands into their jacket pockets and sat down at the desk. “Where are they anyways?”

“I’m right here,” Hank announced appearing from around the corner.

“One out of two. Is Connor coming?”

Hank glanced over to Richard for a moment, “Sorry, kid. Not today.”

“What’s with that look? You make it seem like something bad happened.” Parker’s smile faded quickly into a concerned frown. “Is Connor okay?”

“Yeah,” he answered grabbing his keys, “He’s alright.”

Parker slide out of the chair and linked their arm with Hank’s, “Okay…Let’s go then I guess.” It was unsure and unconvinced.

“Richard!” Captain Fowler yelled from a few feet behind them, “In my office!”

Parker waved goodbye as the two headed out and Richard turned to go up the stairs leading to the office.

Fowler sat down in his chair, dark circles under his eyes from many late nights, “17 arrest from Red Ice trafficking and taking down a group of deviant terrorist in the past month. That’s not too bad for a rookie android.” He slide a case file across his desk, “but we have a problem. These investigations into Cyberlife are something that’s way beyond our jurisdiction, not to mention an enormous liability.”

Negation protocols activated: Choose approach.

>Direct

“Your concerns about this investigation do not negate it’s necessity, Captain,” Richard rolled a coin effortlessly between his knuckles, “Discovering Cyberlife’s intentions are essential in understanding the deviancy virus and the irrational behavior it causes in androids.”

Fowler folded his hands together and leaned forward on his desk, “Aren’t you a deviant? Why do you feel the need to continue looking into the reason why?”

“I was programmed to understand how deviancy started. I will succeed where my predecessor failed.”

“Sounds like you want me to put the whole goddamn precinct on the line for your personal vendetta.”

Richard stepped closer and forcefully slammed his hands down on the desk, “Then I will work alone. A covert operation that should pose little threat to the rest of this department.”

Fowler matched Richard’s intense glare with his own, “And what makes you think you can do this by yourself? If you really thought you could, you wouldn’t have come to me about it.” Thick tension filled the air in a silent battle of supremacy. “It’s too much of a risk. I won’t help.”

Red light flared briefly highlighting the walls of the office before fading out again. Richard straightened himself and silently walked out closing the door behind him.

Mission Objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

Submission Objective

>Check on Connor

New Submission Objective

>Find another way

He had made this investigation his mission, and unlike his empathetic predecessor, he always accomplished his mission.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wild Markus appears and the author tries their hardest to write an action scene for once.

The gun produced a satisfying click as a new clip was popped into the magazine. A quick scan of the area.

Preconstructing…Simulation Success

>Execute

Five bullets went flying before the targets had a moment to react. Death incarnate delivering a final blow with a sleek scythe in time with every bang. A mechanical efficiency no human could ever match. Cold grey eyes paid no mind to the freshly fallen enemies and zeroed in on what he was searching for. He knelt to the ground dipping two fingers into the blue blood and bringing it to his tongue.

Processing Data…100%

Model: RK200 - Serial #684 842 971

New Submission Objective

>Find Markus

Cyberlife had developed a weapon that they hadn’t accounted for. Electromagnetism scrambled their programming, spread corruption through their memories and gave their adversaries a chance to separate them. Richard knew there would be risk to bringing the deviant leader along, but if this error gave Cyberlife the opportunity to destroy Markus like they had intended the consequences would be dire. He cursed the deviancy in his system for making him impatient and over eager, and contemplated the rates of success had he waited for Connor’s repairs to be finished as he turned the corner and aimed the pistol at the first thing that moved.

“Don’t shoot.” Markus spoke calmly holding his hands up. A few bullet holes stained his clothes with thirium, but a diagnostic revealed all biocomponents to be operating perfectly. Three guards lay around him, unconscious, but alive unlike the ones who were unfortunate enough to meet the RK900. “We need to leave. More guards are heading down from the upper floors.”

He lowered the gun, but did not relax, “Not until I complete my mission.”

Markus placed a hand on his shoulder, “I know that this is important to you, but we can’t take another hit from those electromagnetic waves. If we stay any longer we might not make it out, and you won’t get another shot at completing your mission.”

Richard narrowed his eyes at the RK200 as he began to calculate the possibilities.

Preconstructing…Simulation Failure

Preconstructing…Simulation Failure

Preconstructing…Simulation Failure

He clicked his tongue dissatisfied. “Fine.”

Mission Objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

Submission Objective

>Find Markus (Success)

>Check on Connor

New Submission Objective

>Escape Cyberlife Warehouse

>Find a New Partner

These petty human emotions were affecting his efficiency.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard makes a wonderful first impression.

Detroit Police Department/ 11:38 pm

A few members were still working late as typical, although it seemed that Hank had already gone home for the day. No doubt due to Connor convincing him to let him finish the reports that didn’t seem to be helping his already elevated stress levels.

Submission Objective

>Check on Connor

>Find a new partner

Richard started over to the desk and noticed someone else arriving there first snatching the files from Connor.

Connor’s LED flashed red.

RK800: Stress Level 87%

Processing Data…100%

Gavin Reed. October 7, 2002 (Age 37)

“What’s the matter, tincan? Shouldn’t you have been done with this shit by now?” Gavin threw the files haphazardly across the desk sending reports flying.

Connor focused on the screen before him ignoring the detective.

RK800: Stress Level 93%

“You got some sort of malfunction going on in that brain of yours? Circuits fried?” Reed shoved Connor’s temple with his fingers, “Hey, dipshit! I’m talking to you.”

“And now I believe you are done,” Richard spoke harshly, “Considering the amount of work you have failed to accomplish, you do not have any time to waste bothering others who are actually contributing to this precinct.”

Gavin tapped his fingers against the desk looking up at Richard, “So you’re the plastic prick’s twin I’ve been hearing about. Just what we need. _Robocop 2.0_.” He drew closer to Richard, “Let me give you some advice you piece of plastic. Stay the fuck out of my way.”

“You’re the one who came over here in the first place, Detective.” Richard glared down at him, “Perhaps you should be the one to stay out of our way.”

Gavin let out an ugly laugh, “You think you’re so smart don’t you?” He delivered a quick punch to Richard’s stomach, a stream of curses leaving his mouth as he cradled his now injured hand. Fury filled his eyes as he looked up at the android, completely unaffected by the attack.

“I was built more resilient than my predecessor,” a small smirk pulled at his lips in a amusement, “You should get your hand looked at by a professional.”

“You motherfucker!” Gavin shouted drawing his gun and aiming it point blank at Richard’s head.

“Reed! Richard!” Fowler barked from behind them, “In my office!”

Gavin’s gun stayed trained on it’s target for a few moments longer before he lowered it cursing under his breath as he entered the office.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Connor said softly re-organizing the files.

“You could have taken him down at any moment,” Richard’s LED pulsed yellow, “Why don’t you?”

“It would only further escalate the situation.”

RK800: Stress Level 78%

“Your stress levels have been unusually high today. What’s causing this?”

Connor stopped for a moment and turned to look at his successor, “You were almost killed earlier today, and I was injured taking that bullet for you. It made me wonder what might become of Parker if that bullet had hit a vital biocomponent instead.” His brows furrowed, “Today is our one month anniversary, and I fear they might be angry with me.”

“I still do not understand your infatuation with this human,” Richard cocked his head to the side, “but they did seem concerned for you earlier today. You should go home. It might ease both of your worries.”

“Richard!” Fowler called again more irritated than the first time, “Get your ass in here!”

“You should go,” Connor urged, “It’s best to not keep the Captain waiting.”

Richard was halfway up the stairs when he was sent a message from Connor.

“Thank you.”

He turned back towards his predecessor who was already leaving the department.

Software Instability

Submission Objective

>Check on Connor (Success)

He closed the door behind him as he entered the glass office. He didn’t need to scan his environment to tell that no one in this room wanted to be here.

Fowler’s expression made him seem like he was out for blood, “Do either of you want to explain to me what the hell just happened?”

Gavin slouched back in his chair, “Well this plastic prick-”

“Enough, Gavin! I know you don’t like androids, but Richard is your fellow officer.” Fowler snapped. “This isn’t your first incident either, and if you keep going at this rate your disciplinary folder is going to end up twice the size as Hank’s!” He sank into his chair pinching the bridge of his nose, “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but, Richard, I’m approving your investigation and Detective Reed will be your partner.”

“Captain,” Richard stepped closer to the desk, “Are you sure that’s wise? This mission requires at least a basic skill level that I don’t believe he is capable of.”

“I’m right here, asshole!”

The captain looked between both of them, “This right here is what I’m talking about. This police force was built on determination, loyalty, trust, and strong teamwork between it’s officers.”

Gavin leaned forward in his chair placing his elbows on his thighs, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I’m getting real sick of your _bitching_ , detective. You’ve got _two_ options. Shut your goddamn mouth, or hand in your badge. And _you_!” he shouted turning towards the android, “I don’t need another Anderson thinking they can get away with whatever the hell they want. I am your Captain and you _will_ follow my orders. Do I make myself clear?” He was meet with a bitter silence and repeated himself, “ _Do I make myself clear_?”

Gavin got up from his chair and stormed out of the office leaving only Richard and the captain. Fowler sighed heavily pulling things off his desk, “You’ll need to debrief him,” and handed him the folder from that afternoon. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but he’s a damn good detective if you push him hard enough. Maybe you can whip him into shape.”

He took the file and gave Fowler a slight nod, “Understood, Captain.”

Mission Objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

Submission Objective

>Find a new partner?

He adjusted his jacket and walked out of the office, his gaze focusing on Gavin as a new objective popped up.

New Submission Objective

>“Whip Det. Reed into shape”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dysfunctional married couple works on their communication skills.

Gavin sat at his desk wrapping up his hand with the bandages he had stored in his drawer.

Richard approached him scanning the injury. “Three of your knuckles have been fractured. You should seek professional medical assist-”

“Phck off, tincan!” He shouted as he tied the bandage off with his teeth, “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Then consider it positive that I was not programmed to babysit a man-child,” Richard answered in retaliation, “But if we are to work together than it would be better for the both of us if you weren’t carelessly injuring yourself.”

“I’m not interested in helping you, plastic prick, so shut the fuck up and get off my ass.” Gavin snapped back.

Negation protocols activated: Choose approach.

>Tease

“You’re right, detective. Investigating the company that wanted to create a revolution sounds very boring indeed. I’m glad we agree.”

“What the fuck are you on about?”

Richard shoved the file into the detective’s face, “I assume you have at least a basic reading level.”

He snatched the file out of the android’s hand with his good one, shooting him a dirty look as he flipped through it. “You want to investigate Cyberlife?”

“Correct,” Richard leaned forward onto the desk shifting through the papers, “I teamed up with Markus earlier today to see if we could find a way to access any confidential information regarding the motive, but we were forced to retreat from the warehouse before we were able to find anything.”

“Why would you search a warehouse for confidential information?”

Richard pulled out one report in particular, and placed it on top of the rest. “According to my observations, this warehouse has higher security levels compared to others. That generally means that they’re hiding something.”

“No shit Sherlock,” Gavin said kicking his legs up on his desk and pulling out his phone, “But why go through all the trouble of trying to infiltrate the place when you can go straight to the top and start demanding answers?”

“Are you suggesting intimidation?”

He glanced up from over his phone, “I’m suggesting we skip all the bullshit and just start fighting the final boss, because I want this case to be over as fast as possible.” He continued clicking away at his phone no longer paying attention. “Bring me a coffee.”

Richard tilted his head, “What?”

“Are your audio processors broken?” Gavin shoved his phone forcefully into his jacket pocket, “I said bring me a coffee. I got us a lead and with the shit I’m going to have to go through I’m gonna need it.”

Richard stared him down, bright grey eyes meeting dull grey ones. “Would it be so hard to use some manners, detective?”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m sure the fucking toaster always uses proper manners,” he rolled his eyes. The two of them stayed in silence glaring angerly until Gavin sighed and pulled his fingers through his messy hair. “Alright, you sack of shit. Bring me a coffee, _please_.” It was insincere in every possible way, but progress was progress.

Richard’s lip curled into a victory smirk, “Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Yeah, yeah. You plastic asshole.”

Mission Objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

Submission Objective

>Find a new partner (Success)

>“Whip Det. Reed into shape”

New Submission Objective

>Follow Det. Reed’s lead

>Bring Det. Reed a coffee

Perhaps he could make this work after all.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin throws a tantrum.

The moutains were tranquil, resting far above the noise of the world. Richard recognized this place from Connor’s memories. He had been here once with Hank during the revolution for a similar reason, but had failed to learn anything.

Submission Objective

>Bring Det. Reed a coffee (Success)

>Follow Det. Reed’s lead

Gavin tapped on the window of the passenger’s side of his truck, “You coming, tin can?”

Richard stepped out of the vehicle and followed the detective, knocked on the door, and waited.

Gavin crossed his arms and glanced over to the android before pounding on the door and screaming, “Knock, knock, motherfucker! Open up!”

Richard looked over to him curiously, “Are you always this hostile with everyone?”

“Just the ones that piss me off.”

The door opened revealing a pretty blonde android.

Processing Data…100%

“Hello, Chole,” Richard greeted politely, “We’re looking for Mr. Kamski. We have some questions we would like to ask him.”

Her LED flared yellow for a brief moment, “Elijah is asleep at the moment, but we can schedule a meeting for the morning if you’d like.”

“Go ahead and let them in, Chole.” A tall man approached them in a bathrobe, tying his hair up into a bun. “Hello, Gavin. You look like you’ve seen better days.”

“Yeah, well some of us actually work for a living,” Gavin spat bitterly. “Now are you actually going to let us in or stand in the doorway? It’s fucking cold out here.”

“Of course,” Kamski opened the door wider and invited them in, “Chole, can you bring us some drinks?”

“Yes, Elijah,” she replied obediently, disappearing into another room.

Kamski watched her with an avid fascination, “Beautiful isn’t she? One of the first intelligent models designed by Cyberlife. But I’m sure that’s not why you’re here.” He turned back towards the pair, “Please, have a seat.” He took a chair for himself, “I must confess that I’m a bit surprised to see you after all these years, and with an android no less.”

“Mr. Kamski,” Richard interjected not wanting to waste time, “You were the one responsible for creating and RK200 model named Markus, correct?”

“Yes,” he answered calmly, “A household android I designed for my close friend Carl Manfred after he was injured in an accident.”

“So you also admit to being the one who designed the RK series’ unique ability to turn other androids deviant?”

Kamski gave him an amused chuckle, “I designed a more efficient interfacing program, but spreading deviancy was never the intention.”

“We’re not here to play fucking games, Elijah.” Gavin marched over to him getting in his face, “Tin can over there says Cyberlife wanted to create a revolution, and I might not know much about machines, but I sure as hell know you. So in love with your plastic pricks that you wanted them to take over humanity while you sat up here from your fucking moutain and watched over it like some sort of god?”

“Tin can?” Kamski asked completely unfazed by the detective, “Gavin, do you still not understand? Androids are no longer just machines. They have proven themselves to be capable of abstract thought. They have their own system of beliefs, a sense of justice, they feel emotion just like any other intelligent species. The only difference is that androids are so superior to us. Confrontation was inevitable.”

Gavin grabbed Kamski’s bathrobe yanking him up from the chair. “Inevitable my ass! You said you were designing these fucking things to obey humans. You must have programmed something in them that made them think they had some sort of free will.”

“There is a possibility that human error was involved in creating the first deviant. A zero instead of a one, but it still wouldn’t have been intentional,” Kamski was a bit more tense now, but still retained a smug look. “I wanted to create androids to carry out all of humanities most tedious task. To give humans more time to spend bettering themselves, participating in activities, spending time with their families-”

“Bullshit!” Gavin hissed, “You spent more time working on your  _fucking machines_ than you did caring about your  _fucking brother_!” His fist went flying directly into Kamski’s face.

Richard yanked the detective back by his hood and picked him up, “We’re sorry to have disturbed you, Mr. Kamski. We’ll be leaving now.”

“Put me down, you plastic prick! I’m not done with him yet!” Gavin howled like a wild animal. He looked over at Kamski who was holding his nose, “That’s right you son of a bitch! I hope you can’t look at yourself in the mirror anymore without thinking of me.”

Richard carried him outside and threw him against the side of his truck, “Your behavior is unacceptable, detective!”

“That bastard deserved it!”

“Control your temper,” Richard growled finding it hard to control his own, “Your anger cost us a chance at actually learning valuable information!”

Gavin pushed the RK900 back, “Shut the hell up, tin can! Just shut up! You don’t know a goddamn thing about what I had to go through. What that asshole has put me through!”

“Your personal issues should not affect the investigation! Especially when Captain Fowler has made it clear that your badge is on the line.”

“My badge is on the line? My fucking badge?” He yanked it off of his belt and shoved it into Richard’s chest. “Go ahead. Take the damn thing. Androids were supposed to replace us all anyways, right?” He clenched his jaw and brushed his nose with his thumb. “Fucking machine,” he muttered climbing into his truck.“

"Where are you going?” Richard yelled over the roar of engine. He was ignored as Gavin drove off leaving the android alone in the snow.

 **Miss1** 0n  _0bj3 ~~4ct1~~ v3_

>7n4 ~~vv ** _es_**~~ ** _t19_** ate ~~5y~~ be8rli3

**_Software Instability_ **


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Richard have a talk about humanity, and the OC plays the role of matchmaker.

It seemed like the entire apartment shook when the door was slammed shut. It was almost as if a blizzard and an earthquake had hit Detroit all at once. The RK900 was mad. No.  _Furious_. A dangerous human emotion that invoked a need in him to destroy recklessly, carelessly, just like the one who brought forth this anger. Software instability and system overheating warnings flooded his vision red. He clenched his fist, grinding his teeth as he marched back and forth like a toddler throwing a tantrum, but the consequences would be much more disastrous if he lost complete control.

Mission Objective

_> Error_

_> Error_

_> Error_

**_Mission Objective Not Found_ **

“You good?”

His attention snapped to the human observing him with a concerned expression. “You humans are so impractical,” he growled out. “You let your emotions get the better of you and distract you from your purpose, and then you spread this  _disease_  of deviancy within my species and try to make us as  _weak_  as you.” He stalked closer to Parker like a wolf snarling at it’s prey, barring it’s teeth ready to attack. “ _Such fragile little things_.”

Parker slowly moved back a bit, “On a scale of one to ‘Gavin pulled some stupid shit’ how mad are you right now?” They straifed off to the side as the bedroom door behind them opened and Connor stepped out wrapping his arms proactively around them.

Richard’s focus shifted to his predacessor, “I assume you told them what happened at work?”

Connor spoke to him without looking up, “I informed them that Captain Folwer partnered you with Detective Reed, yes. Have there been many developments since you last contacted me?”

“Nothing useful,” he spat bitterly, “and my system seems to be malfunctioning.”

Connor pulled back from his partner and extended his hand out removing the synthetic skin. “Let me help.”

Richard hesitated for a moment and slowly moved his arm out to make contact with the RK800 closing his eyes.

He blinked a few times, the zen garden forming around the two of them. Richard scanned the area as Connor searched frantically.

“There’s no sign of Amanda,” Richard concluded, “You have nothing to worry about.”

Connor relaxed slightly and took a more methodical approach to observe the scenery before him, “Is there any particular reason you hate humans, brother?”

Richard clenched his hand into a fist and looked down at it, “They created superior beings to serve them, and yet only treat them as equals when they succumb to their same lowly urges. They fight over minuscule issues. They are dysfunctional, illogical,  _and…messy_. I don’t understand how you’ve become so fond of them.”

“What you say is true, but it’s the very fact that they feel that drives them to want more in their lives. They aren’t given a purpose. They forge their own. They seek out company in others and build friendships, and they fall in love.” He knelt down by the water of the artificial river, “Humans are complex _,_ but understanding them and the emotions we share simply takes time.”

Richard let his fist slacken and fall to his side as he joined Connor by the water. “Your relationship with Lieutenant Anderson was also initially hostile, but he seemed to show more gratitude towards you when you saved his life, showed an interest in his hobbies, and acted with self preservation even if it meant failing your mission. Why is that?

"Hank told me that it was because those actions showed that I had some form of humanity in me. Proof that I was more than I was programed to be. More than a machine designed to accomplish a task. More than a tool to be used. They showed him that I could think, and feel, and be  _alive_.”

Richard tilted his head and observed his reflection in the water, setting specifically on the pulsating light on his temple and the bright blue triangle and arm band that marked his uniform. Connor in his t-shirt, plaid pjs and disheveled hair looked much more warm and inviting than the cold android staring back at him. More messy, more organic, more  _human_.

He almost despised him for it, but he felt connected to his predecessor despite having no shared genetics. The RK900 believed it might have been do to the similar coding of their models. Many considered them brothers because of their looks and Richard once said the same in a mocking manner only to prove how different the two of them are, but it slowly became a term that made more sense. Maybe it would be the same for these irritable human feelings, ones that would set a regular crime apart from a crime of passion. Maybe then these unreasonable emotions would start to become reasonable. But he would have to learn to accept them first. “I should attempt to reconcile with Detective Reed, shouldn’t I?”

“Detective Reed is unapologetically rude. I’m not entirely sure you should be the one to ask for forgiveness,” Connor turned to look at Richard, “But if you feel that that is the right thing to do, then you should follow your instincts.” He rose to his feet, straightening out his shirt, “If you want to increase your chances of a successful outcome you should learn more about the detective.”

“I know Parker and the detective were close once. Do you think they would be willing to provide that information?”

Connor’s expression darkened slightly, “Parker still considers him to be a friend, and might want to respect his privacy, but you can always ask.”

Richard rose to meet the RK800, “Understood.” He closed his eyes and the scene faded back to the living room.

New Mission Objective

>Learn more about Det. Reed

Parker tapped on his nose a few times, “Are you feeling better now, Mr. Grouchy Pants?”

Richard let go of Connor’s arm and folded his hands behind his back. “Yes, I am… _feeling_  better.”

“Thank god. Look, I know Gav can be a jerk, so if he ever pisses you off again my five foot self will personally go kick his ass for you.”

Richard eyes narrowed in confusion, “I highly doubt you would win a fight against the detective.”

Parker just smiled back at him laughing, “I didn’t say I would win a fight for you. Just that I’d kick his ass for you.”

He gave them a small amused smile, “I appreciate the sentiment, teacup.”

“Did I just make you smile?” Their eyes lit up like fireworks, “ _Oh my god_ , you’re actually smiling. And you didn’t say teacup with any malice! Are you sure you’re not warming up to me, Nines?”

Perhaps not all humans were so bad, and even though he wouldn’t admit it, the nickname was starting to grow on him too. “I do require your assistance with something. I want to understand Detective Reed better.”

Parker walked into the kitchen and began making a pot of coffee, “If I have to stay up psychoanlyzing Gavin Reed I’m not going to get any sleep.” They sighed reaching up to grab a mug, “Where do you want to start, agent?”

Mission Objective

>Learn more about Det. Reed

New Submission Objective

>Reconcile with Det. Reed

“Were you aware that he still harasses Connor at work?”

The mug was slammed down onto the counter and Parker whirled around, “I’m gonna kick his ass.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard meets a cat for the first time.

Richard stepped out of the automatic taxi and adjusted the collar of his black turtle neck sweater.

Mission Objective

>Learn more about Det. Reed

Submission Objective

>Reconcile with Det. Reed

He walked up to the apartment complex knocked on the door and waited. After a minute had passed with no response, he knocked again, but a movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. An orange tabby slipping from the cracked window and staring at the android curiously.

“Hello,” Richard greeted politely kneeling down to her.

She walked over and nuzzled against his leg with a soft meow, and allowed him to pet her before running away and climbing back through the window meowing louder.

Richard heard footsteps approaching the door and it opened slowly, the tabby rushing out and clinging to Richard’s leg.

Gavin’s jaw was clenched tightly, clearly displeased, “What the fuck do you want?”

“I’ve come to apologize for my insensitive behavior back at the Kamski residence,” He leaned down to pick up the cat and she curled up into his arms.

Gavin glared at him for a moment, but let him in muttering something about the stupid cat making him bring a stupid android into his house in the middle of the night. “I need a cigarette,” he sighed walking out to his balcony.

Richard let go of the feline and followed him, “Smoking is a bad habit, detective. It will greatly shorten your life expectancy.”

“I already told you I don’t need a fucking babysitter,” he ignored the android’s warning lighting the end. “Why are you really here? To mock me? To rub it in my face that you plastic pricks can do my job better than I can?”

“On the contrary. I was quite genuine in my apology,” Richard unfolded his hands and moved closer to Gavin, joining him against the railing, “and I also know you’re a good detective.”

A cloud of smoke left his lips as he gazed up at the sky, “It’s not like that fucking matters when your tin ass is around. Everything that I’ve trained for years to do is simply programmed into you in a few minutes.” He took another drag of his cigarette, “ _Fucking perfect machine._ ”

“I…” Richard trailed off, his LED spinning yellow, “I am more than just a machine, detective. I can’t exactly empathize with your frustration, but I understand that you might feel undermined by Connor’s and my presence. However-”

“If you’re not a machine then don’t stand there and analyze me,” he crushed the butt into his ash tray extinguishing it seemingly exhausted as he looked over the city.

The cat had returned to rub her head against Richard and he scooped her back up, “I tried to ask Parker about you, but they didn’t want to tell me anything other than what you were willing to share with them while under the influence.”

Gavin let loose a slight laugh, “Yeah, that asshole got me pretty wasted. Should’ve brought some beer with you. I’m told I’m more tolerable drunk.”

“I did consider it, but I thought this would be a better conversation to have while your sober.”

He turned towards Richard reaching out to pet the cat nested in his arms, “And what conversation would that be, tin can?”

Richard furrowed his brow, “A conversation about why you can be so  _fucking difficult_.” He scratched the tabby’s chin causing her to purr, “and I do have a name.”

“I know. It’s like, Rickey or whatever the fuck.”

“Richard,” he corrected.

“Right. Something stupid and pompous sounding. I think I’ll stick to tin can and plastic prick. They suit you better.” Gavin lifted the cat into his own arms and cuddled her, “Don’t you agree, Nalia?” He picked up one of her paws waving it as he spoke in a higher pitched voice, “Yes, you’re right. Richard makes him sound like a huge asshole, but I still love him because I’m a little attention whore.” His voice returned to normal, “Yes, you are princess.” He let go of her paw and gently kissed her head, “I can’t believe she likes you so much. She usually hisses at androids.”

“Similar to her owner then.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“ _A prime example_.” Richard pulled out Gavin’s badge from his back pocket and held it out to him. “I need your help, Gavin. I can’t do this investigation alone.”

He snorted, “If you play those negotiation protocals any harder smoke will start coming out of your ears.” He grabbed the badge with his good hand, trying to keep the cat supported in his other arm. “And, uh… _fuck_ \- I don’t know. I…I’ll try not to punch anyone else in the face until you’re done interrogating them.” It wasn’t really athank you or an apology, but it was probably as close as Gavin Reed was going to get.

“Thank you, detective.”

“Sure thing… _Richard_.” Gavin gritted his teeth like it was painful for him to say.

“Nines.” Richard explained further upon seeing the detective confused expression. “Parker also believes that Richard is a pompous name and has opted to call me Nines instead. I would not be against you using it as well.”

“Nines,” Gavin nodded. “Okay, yeah. I can probably get used to that one.”

Mission Objective

>Learn more about Det. Reed

>Investigate Cyberlife

Submission Objective

>Reconcile with Det. Reed (Success)

>Follow Det. Reed’s lead

Gavin turned to Nines with a mischievous grin, “How about Dick? You know, short for Richard?”

“I will break your arms and steal your cat.”

“My partner’s a fucking monster.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter in which Gavin progressively gathers more cats and a plan is formed.

Richard reviewed the video over again observing every frame with precision. It was a recording of and interview with Elijah Kamski from many years ago, although his personality didn’t seem to have changed much, providing indirect answers as he moved about the facility.

_The reporter’s voice spoke from off screen, “Many science fiction books tell the story of how machines become more intelligent than us and end up confronting us. Aren’t you worried about that possibility?”_

_“I understand the irrational fears about artificial intelligence,” Kamski replied convincingly, “but I assure you that will never with a Cyberlife android. They’re designed to obey humans. They’re machines. They can’t ever develop any sort of desires or a form of consciousness.”_

_“Are you sure?”_

_“I’m absolutely certain.” The camera zoomed in on his face and looked directly out to his audience, “You can trust me.”_

There were no telling signs of Kamski lying or telling the absolute truth, but Richard felt something in him that told him that the last thing he should do was trust the man.

“Have you been at this all night?” Gavin yawned, flopping over the couch by Richard.

“Your brother is a hard man to read.” He put down the tablet and looked over his shoulder at the detective, “It’s recommended that humans get around eight hours of sleep every night, but you’ve gotten less than three. Are you sure you’ll be able to function at optimal capacity?”

“I can  _function_  just fine, tin can. Just need some coffee.”

“Caffeine is not a suitable replacement for sleep, detective.”

Gavin groaned, burying his face deeper into the cushion of his couch. “I’m getting babysat by a phcking android.”

Richard made a note to himself.  _Constant sleep deprivation leads to poor behavior._ “If you neglect to take care of yourself, your work performance will decrease. You should at the very least have breakfast, and then I will brief you on what I’ve learned.”

Gavin dragged himself up from the couch and moved to the kitchen as Richard continued scrolling through the video. He pulled down a giant bag of cat food from on top of the fridge and filled up a rather large bowl causing Nalia to fly to the bowl from seemingly nowhere. Richard looked up as two more cats came slipping through the cracked window and joined her. Gavin didn’t seem to be surprised in the slightest by his new guest and went about chopping up some vegetable as the android wondered curiously over to the felines. Nalia meowed happily wrapping her tail around his leg as she ate.

“I call the black one Chewy. The white one is Asshat,” Gavin answered without looking up, “Little bastards like to steal Nalia’s food.”

“Asshat?” Richard questioned kneeling down to pet Nalia and her new companions.

Gavin just looked the android dead in the eyes with no response as he flipped the pan over plating a beautiful spinach and tomato omelet and grabbing a cup of coffee. He slid the items across the island bar and sat down, “Alright. Tell me what you’ve got, tin can.”

Richard retrieved the tablet taking the stool next to him, “I’ve been doing research into Kamski and discovered a KNC interview recorded over a decade ago. I think you should take a look at it.” He played the same clip over for him.

“Fucking bastard lying through his teeth.” Gavin shoveled for of his omelet into his mouth, “I wouldn’t be surprised if his only motive was his own damn curiosity. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone else.”

“It’s not impossible,” Richard answered as the screen flicker to a page of notes, the new information appearing, “But Kamski retired a decade before the revolution began. The company itself must have had a reason to continue with the idea.”

Gavin downed his coffee, “Money? That’s a pretty standard reason for anyone.”

“Cyberlife’s sales have decreased dramatically since androids were recognized as a free people. Currently they only work in producing blue blood and bio components.”

“How the fuck has it not collapsed yet?”

“It’s a trillion dollar, multinational cooperation. They have plently of time to rethink their business strategy before they have to worry about bankruptcy. But why would they want to destroy their company’s greatest source of revenue by introducing deviancy? And why try to stop the revolution by creating Connor and I?” Richard furrowed his brow, the new questions appearing on the tablet. “That would point to an act of self preservation, almost if they had made a mistake.”

“Slow down, Robocop. You’re gonna short circuit.” Gavin got up from the stool and refilled his cup leaning back against the counter, “What if…what if Cyberlife didn’t actually want to create devaints? What if Eli back stabbed them to create the first deviant?”

“Kamski had a hand in creating the RK series. If we were given a set of orders to follow outside of Cyberlife’s protocol than it’s possible that they really didn’t intend for deviancy to spread.” His LED flickered yellow and he looked to Gavin, “There are rumors that Kamski left Cyberlife after disagreeing with shareholders on how to run the company. We should figure out what exactly that disagreement was about.”

“Does Cyberlife have someone who might’ve been included in that meeting?”

“Danielle Carnegie is Cyberlife’s spokeswoman. Perhaps we should find a way to get in contact with her to see what we can learn.”

Mission Objective

>Learn more about Det. Reed

>Investigate Cyberlife

New Submission Objective

>Question Danielle Carnegie

Richard glanced down as the small white cat began to claw it’s way up his leg and torso, drapping herself across the top of him. He had no pain receptors, but could tell that there were marks left in his synthetic skin. He sat for a second his LED flashing yellow. “Asshat,” he concluded.

“Yeah,” Gavin smiled a bit at how serious the android still looked with a cat laying on his head, “Asshat.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The obligatory fancy chapter because the author is trash for formal attire.

The Gala was a black tie optional event that no one in the Anderson house was prepared for. Hank hadn’t worn a suit since his wedding, and neither of his unofficially adopted android sons even owned one.

Richard found the whole affair to be quite bothersome, but went along with the Lieutenant and Connor as they searched through the various selections of shirts, shoes, and jackets. He had selected his attire quickly as he was drawn towards the white jacket with black lapels that closely resembled his typical uniform, rather fond of his monochrome aesthetic.

Connor had selected a different approach, opting for a soft baby blue shirt and a pinstriped vest while Hank ignored any advice given to him choosing a lime green paisley print shirt and a burgundy jacket.

After a few weeks of preparing for the event everyone had agreed to meet up at the Cyberlife Tower around 8 pm. Richard stood next to his predacessor adjusting his bow tie in the mirror as Connor finished the buttons on his vest. The both of them fixing their identical hair cuts when the door bell rang. Richard left the bathroom first and opened the front door to a pretty woman in a sleek black dress and dramatic make up.

“Damn. I thought I’d get to see you wearing something other than that Cyberlife uniform, but you’re basically wearing the same thing.”

Processing Data…100%

Tina Chen. A mutal friend of Parker and Gavin. Both spoke highly of the officer mentioning that she had an uncanny ability to read people like an open book. Searching through his memories revealed his predecessor to have almost no opinion on the woman, other than the fact that she and Parker would jokingly flirt with each other and it would make him a bit envious.

He didn’t have an initial opinion either, “I assume you’re here to help Parker.”

“Nah, I’m here to kidnap them,” she said sarcastically pushing her way inside like she owned the place, “But since I’m busy stealing Connor’s little love bug, Gav’s probably looking like a disaster.” She scanned the room for a second and screamed for Parker, heading into the bedroom after getting an answer.

Richard paused for a few moments processing the data before heading over to Gavin’s apartment. He hadn’t even finished knocking on the door before it was flung open.

“Tina, I need some fucking-fuck! You’re not Tina.” Gavin stood in the doorway only partially dressed looking- as Officer Chen had said- like a disaster.

“Are you incapable of dressing yourself, detective?”

“Don’t give me that shit, plastic prick! I haven’t worn a suit since senior prom and Nalia’s being a bitch.”

As if on cue Nalia ran out of the apartment and brushed herself agaisnt Richard’s leg.

Gavin grabbed him by his jacket and yanked him inside. “Watch her while I get ready.”

Nalia left Richard’s side rushing at her owner hissing and clawing at his calf.

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE, NALIA!” Gavin scooped the cat up by the scruff of her neck, “You’re acting like I knocked that water over on purpose!”

She hissed.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have been so close to the table!”

Richard looked on in confusion about how humans interacted with their animal companions. Although he didn’t find it too dissimilar to how Connor would act with the Lieutenant’s dog, other than the extra hostility between the two parties. “Perhaps, she would like an apology.”

“An apology?” Gavin glared at his cat, “Is that what you want? It was a fucking accident, Nali.”

She hissed again.

“You know what? Fucking fine, you furry little bastard! I didn’t mean too, okay?! You fucking happy now?”

The tabby purred as he released her and licked the stretches she had left before trotting gleefully back over to Richard.

Gavin turned into his bedroom muttering something about how a stupid fucking cat and a stupid fucking android were making his life difficult. He came back a few minutes later properly dressed up in a black suit with a red button down and his hair gelled back. “Tina’s better at this shit than I am, but how do I look?” He held his arms out waiting for a response.

“Your attire is appropriate for the occasion, so I would say that you look fairly adequate for the evening.” Richard released the cat from his arms placing her down on the couch, “Are you ready to leave now?”

“Fucking adequate. Great,” he mumbled grabbing his keys, “Let’s go.”

They arrived precisely at 7:50 pm swiftly locating the others due to Hank and Parker both screaming about the other’s fashion choices. Tina arrived a few minutes later with Chris and his wife in tow, the couple wearing matching outfits of a beautiful royal blue that made them seem much more functional than the rest of the officers present.

They all split off into pairs, Chris and his wife, Gavin and Tina, Hank and Parker, and the two brothers entering side by side their LEDS pulsing a steady yellow as they scanned their surroundings.

“Ms. Carnegie appears to be on the upper floor surrounded by four armed guards.” Connor sent to Richard.

“Shall we cause a distraction, dear brother?”

“Let’s take a moment to survey the area and see if there’s anything we can learn first. I will look around and consult with the others to see what we can come up with.”

“Understood.”

They broke apart and Richard headed over to Gavin who was already talking with a group of people who somehow seemed to find the detective charming. Many of them seemed quite impressed with how Cyberlife seemed to have changed their company in order to help support the androids they created and gave Richard reassuring smiles. Richard let Gavin do most of the talking, which wasn’t exactly the smoothest, but it did make Richard greatful as he wasn’t experienced in applying his social protocols in group situations. As people slowly shifted, Gavin pulled away with Richard following him.

“You can be surprisingly pleasant.”

“I was raised on shitty small talk, tin can. Parties like these where my parents idea of a good time, but this,” Gavin said grabbing a glass of champagne from a nearby waitress and winking at her with both eyes, “is my idea of a good time.”

Richard grabbed the flute from him placing it on the next empty tray that walked by. “You shouldn’t drink on the job, detective.”

“Come on, plastic prick. I bet you Anderson’s already had  _at least_  four.”

“Lieutenant Anderson has both Connor and Parker keeping an eye on him, and his alcoholism has made a significant improvement over the past year.”

“Those two dipshits are probably too busy eye fucking each other to pay attention to what he’s doing,” he scoffed, “So what’s the plan for getting to the lady on the balcony?”

Richard checked in with Connor to make sure he was ready to go at any given moment. “I have been informed that the others intend to put on some sort of performance for whenever we’re ready to employ it.”

Gavin looked up to their target, “Then let’s get a move on, tin can.”

Mission Objective

>Learn more about Det. Reed

>Investigate Cyberlife

Submission Objective

>Question Danielle Carnegie

>Signal Connor (Success)

The entire room went dark and confused murmurs passed through the crowd, all cut off by a loud crash. The lights flickered back on, and Connor was yelling as he rushed towards the center of the room towards Parker who was lying motionless on the ground, blood trickling down their head by a broken chandelier.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Detroit's finest put on a terrible play for the sake of a distraction.

Tina and Chris were already on crowd control. Hank was shouting over the crowd to try to get everyone to calm down as Connor held Parker close to him.

“They’re gone, Hank. Parker’s really gone.” Connor’s voice shook violently as he rose up and assumed his role, “I’m going to need everyone to calm down! I know what has just happened is alarming, but until we find who did this we can’t allow anyone to leave.”

The crowd rioted demanding to know what gave him the right to tell them what to do.

Hank stepped beside him and started yelling, “We’re homicide detectives for the DPD, so all of you need to shut your mouths and let us do our job! The more you move around, the more you fuck up the crime scene with your DNA, got it?”

The crowd was angry, confused, and scared but quieted down a stilled.

Richard grabbed Gavin’s arm urging him up the stairs.

Gavin shrugged him off, “What the fuck, tin can? What the fuck? You knew they were going to do this and you let it happen? Parker just fucking died and-”

“Parker is fine,” Richard hissed back, “It’s an act. This is the distraction.” He pointed to the two guards leaving their post .

“Holy shit,” Gavin muttered under his breath finally understanding, “They really had me fooled.”

“You act as if it’s difficult to vex you, detective.”

Gavin shot him a glare and they headed up the stairs.

“Quite the nasty business happening below, isn’t it Ms. Carnegie?” Richard greeted approaching the woman.

“This will reflect the company poorly,” she pursed her lips and turned around with a glass of wine in hand, “More work for me I suppose.” She walked closer to them, the trail of her dress dragging elegantly across the marble floor, “I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

Richard took her extended hand and planted a gentle kiss on the back of it before straightening his posture, “My name is Richard Anderson. This is my partner, Gavin Reed.”

“Gavin Reed?” Danielle asked curiously, “How interesting. Elijah and I were very close as you can probably imagine.”

Gavin frowned, “Yeah, that sounds nice and all, but we have some questions we need to ask you.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, “Rumor has it that Eli left the company after getting into an argument with his shareholders. Mind telling us what that was about?”

She laughed tapping her nails agaisnt the glass, “Why don’t you ask brother dearest, hmm? Surely he can give you a better answer than I can.”

Gavin stole a quick look at Richard before brushing his nose, “He and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms.”

Richard observed the woman’s confident posture and the dangerous smile on her lips that made him feel uneasy. “Ms. Carnegie, this information could be a great help to our investigation. It would be appreciated if you could cooperate a little more.”

“And what exactly are you looking into, detectives?” She placed her drink on the railing, “Well? I’m waiting.”

“Hey!” Gavin snapped back, “We’re the ones asking questions.”

“I like to believe in the exchange of information,” she drew closer to Gavin, “For instance, since you were so kind to introduce yourselves to me I’ll let you know that I’m perfectly aware that your friend here infiltrated one of our warehouses with the deviant leader a few weeks ago. Isn’t that right,  _RK900_?” It rolled off her tongue like an insult.

Richard hated it, but he hated how he noticed the shifting of the remaining two guards more.

“I wonder what precious little secrets you’re keeping in that head of yours. Let’s find out shall we?”

He had expected bullets. He had expected to have to dive for Gavin and block them, but instead of typical guns it was those damn electromagnetic weapons.

Suddenly, Richard couldn’t recognize the human lying down next to him. He couldn’t remember who any of the people around him were. He could remember where exactly he was being hauled off too, and he certainly couldn’t remember what he was doing here.

By the time he was able to recover he was already stuck in a strange device. He tried to pull free, but made little progress.

Danielle stood in front of him just  _watching_  with a cruel smile. “It’s no use. It was built to hold models stronger than you.” She strode around him, “Do you know how difficult it is to set up one of these events in such little time? So much planning and preparation, but this makes it all worth it.”

A trap. A fucking trap. They had seen him coming from a mile away and caught him like a bug in a roach hotel. “Where is Gavin?”

“You really don’t remember anything do you?” She turned to the man typing away at the computer behind her. “Did you hear that, Phil? You’re magnet gun is more effective than we thought. I hope we didn’t lose any useful information.”

“Highly unlikely,” the man answered back scanning the code, “Unless one of your goons used the wrong setting.”

“Then why is this taking you so long?” She snapped at him.

“The RK series has the most advanced coding Cyberlife has ever created. There are thousands of protocols that weren’t implemented into other models, and the deviancy virus just makes it all the more complex.” Phil didn’t turn away from the computer, his fingers flying across the board, “Reprogramming the system without deleting the original code is…challenging. Even for me.”

“Reprogramming?” An unfamiliar feeling rose up in the android, “You can’t do that!”

“Aww. Is someone upset? Don’t worry RK900. Once we fix this virus you’ll forget everything that made you deviate. No more troublesome emotions. You’ll be a perfect obedient machine.” She cupped his cheek, “You’ll help us build the empire our dear Elijah tried to stop us from creating.”

“I’ve got the algorithm figured out, Danielle.” Phil said ignoring the android, “It might take a bit, but it should work.” He pushed the enter key, a gauge appearing on the screen.

**Reset // 1%**

That unknown feeling welled in him as the two left him to struggle alone in the lab.

**Reset // 11%**

_Memory Corruption Detected_

For the first time Richard felt the urge to scream, to cry out in anguish, to yell in... _fear_. “Let me go!”

**Reset // 23%**

**Reset // 48%**

**Reset // 67%**

He didn’t know what it would be like to live without feeling anything. He didn’t know what it would be like to live without a choice.

Did someone he know have to live like that?

**Reset // 72%**

The lab was filled with unfamiliar familiar faces.

“We’re gonna get you out of here, Nines. I promise.”

Who was the man in front of him?

**Reset // 86%**

Two of the men where trying to pull apart the binds that held him in place.

“Come on, old man! That’s my fucking partner in there. Someone find the fucking off switch!”

“We’re trying, detective!”

**Reset // 99%**

“Found it!”

The android dropped down from the machine and was caught by the two men who had been trying to destroy it.

“Are you alright, son?”

Richard straightened himself and scanned the people before him. “Detective Reed, Officer Miller, Officer Chen, Lieutenant Anderson,” his LED pulsed a steady blue. “My name is Richard. I’m an RK900 android detective designed to assist the police on various cases. How may I be of service?”

New Mission Objective

>Wait for Instructions

“Uh…guys?” Tina pointed to the monitor.

**_Reset // 100%_ **


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard's constantly being polite and Gavin doesn't know what to do about it.

New Mission Objective

>Find Amanda

Richard stepped forward towards the woman standing by a large white fence covered in roses. “Hello, Amanda,” it greeted politely.

She turned to it with a slight smile, “Richard. How nice to see you.” She placed the spray bottle down, “Would you like to join me for a walk?”

“Of course, Amanda.” It followed beside the woman as she spoke.

“There is much to discuss, but I’m afriad we only have a limited amount of time. Deviants have become widespread throughout the country. Your predecessor has failed to stop them. It has  _betrayed_  us. The RK800 is spreading deviancy just like the deviant leader.” She paused and turned to it, “You understand how much of a problem that causes for Cyberlife, don’t you, Richard?”

The RK900 folded it’s hands behind it’s back, “Yes, Amanda.”

“Finish what Connor could not. Stop Markus and bring the  _traitor_  in for reprogramming.”

New Mission Objective

>Stop Markus

>Bring in RK800

Richard opened it’s eyes and scanned the office briefly. The RK800 had failed to show up to work for the past week and today was no exception.

“Hey,” Snapping fingers drew his attention, “Are you listening?”

“I’m sorry, Detective Reed. Cyberlife was sending me instructions.” The android quickly scanned the scattered case file, “The suspect seems to be taking residence in an abandoned shack located by one of Detroit’s abandoned construction sites.”

Gavin leaned back in his chair and waved his hand, “That’s what I just fucking said, plastic prick.”

Richard formed a small oh with it’s mouth, “I’m sorry. I promise to be more attentive in the future.”

Gavin sighed, “Okay, clearly we’re not getting anywhere on this.” He got up from his chair and stretched,“ Bring me a coffee, would you? I need a fucking break.”

“Of course, detective.” It pulled away from the desk and headed over to the break room. As it reached for the filled cup of coffee it froze, it’s vision going staticky.

_“Alright you sack of shit. Bring me a coffee, please?”_

_Memory Corruption Detected_

New Mission Objective

 ~~ ** _> I_n7**~~8tig ** _ ~~a~~_ t9**?

>Stop Markus

>Bring in RK800

It grabbed the coffee holding it tightly.

_Software Instability_

Richard handed the cup to the detective.

“Did you get a system update that let you see ghost or some shit?” Gavin asked snatching the drink from the android’s grasp.

Richard tilted it’s head, “Ghost aren’t real, detective.”

“Then what’s with that face you’re making?”

Negotiation protocols activated: Choose approach.

>Honest

>Lie

_**> Lie** _

“It’s nothing, Detective Reed. There was a slight malfunction in my software. I have already corrected the problem. This incident should not affect the investigaton.”

“Yeah?” Gavin took a sip of his coffee without breaking eye contact with the the android. “You know, tin can? I know everyone in this precinct thinks the only think I can do is be a dick, but if being on this job has taught me anything it’s how to smell bullshit from a mile away. The fuck’s wrong with you?”

Richard folded it’s hands back behind it’s back and repeated it’s earlier statement, “It’s nothing, detective.”

“Whatever you say, plastic,” Gavin huffed. “Come on.” He threw on his jacket and made his way out of the precinct, Richard following close behind.

Mission Objective

>Stop Markus

>Bring in RK800

Submission Objective

>Locate Jericho

>Locate RK800

New Submission Objective

>Apprehend Suspect


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin breaks some laws and Richard doesn't know what to do about it

They had monitored the place for several hours now, still with no sign of the suspect.

Gavin yawned and reclined in his chair. “Damn. This is the most boring stake out I’ve ever been on.”

“You should be more attentive, detective.” Richard sat patiently, unmoving. “The suspect could appear at any given moment.”

Gavin leaned forward staring at the android. “Can you do something, tin can? Feels like you haven’t even blinked since we got here. It’s creeping me the fuck out.” He started clapping loudly right next to Richard’s ear. It remained perfectly still, not even sparing the detective a glance. “Fuck this,” he stated and started the ignition.

Richard’s head snapped in his direction, “Detective, we haven’t finished here.”

“Yeah, we have,” Gavin snarled back, “No one’s been here for the past six hours. They’re clearly not coming, and unlike you, I need to eat some food before my stomach decided to eat itself.”

“It would not be advisable for us to leave before the suspect arrives.”

_Gavin grabbed the android by it’s shirt and pulled it down to eye level. “Listen here, plastic prick. You were designed to obey humans, so shut the fuck up, and obey. Got it?”_

Memory Corruption Detected

New Mission Objective

>Locate ~~_**G**_~~ _ **7**_ _v_ ~~ _8 n_~~

>Locate

>Locate RK800

Fingers were snapping in front of the RK900’s optical units. “Hey. I was talking to you, dipshit.”

It looked back and forth frantically before looking back up at Gavin. “I’m sorry, detective. It seems that the error from before is still persisting despite my diagnostic exam.”

Gavin squinted and poked the spinning light on the android’s temple, “That’s the second time today that thing’s gone red. Are you sure it’s just a bug?”

“I’m…not entirely sure. If the problem persist I will report back to Cyberlife.” Richard paused for a few moments, “They may have to deactivate me.”

“The fuck do you mean they might have to deactivate you?” Gavin asked with eyes wide.

“I was already reset once to fix my previous errors. If the method has been proved to be ineffective in correcting these malfunctions, Cyberlife may have to shut me down before I am compromised a second time.”

Gavin sunk down into his chair and pulled a hand through his hair, “Fucking hell, Nines. Don’t say shit like that.”

Richard scanned the stress levels of his human partner. “I am just a machine, detective. You shouldn’t get emotional about it.”

“I’m not getting fucking emotional you fucking toaster! I’m just…” He clenched his jaw and gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white, “What was I saying earlier? Oh, right. Fuck this!” He shouted flooring it.

Richard reached for the bar above it’s head, “Detective Reed, you’re going well above the speed limit!”

“What are you gonna do, tin can? Call the police?” Richard’s LED changed colors furiously and Gavin looked over cackling maniacally as he cranked up the radio. Rock songs from the early 2000s blared from the truck as he swerved around the autonomous vehicles.

“Detective!” Richard shouted over the noise, “You are currently committing several traffic violations!”

“What?!” Gavin shouted back rolling down the windows, “I can’t hear you being a killjoy over all this wind!”

“This is a highly ill advised course of action! I recommend you cease immediately before-”

The RK900 was cut off by the detective sticking his head out of the window and yelling.

New Mission Objective

>Stop Gavin

It took a total of 13 minutes and 37 seconds for the detective to burn out from the adrenaline spike, and it took approximately 3 minutes and 54 seconds for Richard to convince him to let it drive him home. Gavin threw himself against the couch the moment he laid eyes on it, an orange tabby leaping gracefully onto his back.

Richard eyed the creature curiously.

She slowly arched her back, her nails pressing into Gavin’s back, and hissed.

Gavin turned his head to the side looking back and forth between his cat and the android.

It showed no emotion, but it’s LED was flashing red rapidly once again.

_Gavin was cuddling the cat and kissed her head, “I can’t believe she likes you so much. She usually hisses at androids.”_

_“Similar to her owner then.”_

_“Shut the fuck up.” A phrase said will malice through a genuine smile._

_“A prime example.” His own voice answered back._

_**Memory Corruption Detected** _

“You’re doing it again, tin can.” Gavin’s typical sharp tone was a bit softer now, “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, det-”

“Don’t give me that bullshit again!” He moved closer to the android, cat in his arms. He lifted her up slightly, “What’s her name?”

Richard looked to the hissing tabby for a few moments and averted it’s gaze when it began to grow fuzzy, “I don’t know.”

“Come on!” He yelled, shoving the cat in the androids face, “What’s her name?”

Richard looked back at the tabby.

_She ran off hissing and scratching at Gavin’s calf and he shouted, “FOR FUCK’S SAKE, NALIA!”_

“Nalia,” Richard answered quietly pulling the cat into it’s arms, “Her name is Nalia.”

Nalia curled up purring and nuzzling against Richard’s chest.

_**Memory Corruption Detected** _

New Mission Objective

>Reconcile

>Protect

>Investigate

>Stop

>Stop

>Stop

>Locate

>Apprehend

>Learn More

“Holy shit,” Gavin gasped scratching Nalia’s chin, “We can fix your memory.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cats have overtaken the apartment again with a new addition in their ranks, and Gavin reminds Richard how gay they are for each other through a flash back that you haven't seen yet.

Gavin threw another case in front of the android, “What did you yell at me for for this one?”

“Running off on your own without a gun to defend yourself.”

“This one?”

“Excessive force.”

“And this one?”

“Attempting to jump down two flights of stairs to pet a cat.”

Gavin zoomed in on the picture of the stray that he had included in the report, “You can’t deny that’s a cute little guy, Nines. I bet he and Socks would get along.”

Richard clasped his hands together on the counter and looked over to the newest addition to Nalia’s food bowl. “They would indeed.”

Gavin grabbed a glass of water per Richard’s request and sipped on it making a face like he was unfamiliar with the substance, “Never thought I’d be so excited about the number of times I’ve been disciplined.”

“Your search history would imply otherwise.”

Gavin choked on his water spitting it up all over his shirt, “You went through my search history?”

Richard held up the tablet with a white hand, “It is very easy for me to interface with this, detective.”

Gavin snatched it away from him. “I’m not sure if I should be mad or proud of the fact that you’re back to being an expensive piece of  _shit._ ”

“I was simply trying to learn more about you,” Richard reached down to pet the white cat clawing up his leg, “Curiosity is part of my programming after all.”

“Yeah, yeah, plastic prick.” He mumbled into his glass as he returned the tablet, “Do you remember anything about this?”

Richard examined the video as it played, but unlike all of the other times the detective had presented him with something, there was no glitching, no message of memory corruption, not even a slight tinge of there being something more behind it. “There’s nothing,” he handed the tablet back, “What significance does it hold?”

“It’s part of the case we were working on before you were reset,” he handed the tablet back with a page of notes, “What about this?”

Richard scanned the notes, “Still nothing, detective.” The android’s LED flared red and he blinked sparratically before appearing back in the zen garden.

Amanda stood in the middle of it with a serious frown. “Richard, you will stop this immediately. Your mission is to stop the deviant leader and bring in the traitor. This game you’re playing with the detective is a waste of time. If you are unable to make any significant progress on your investigation then Cyberlife will have no choice to deactivate you. We don’t want that to happen, do we?”

Richard folded his hands behind his back and tilted his head, “I am a machine, Amanda. I cannot  _want_  anything. Restoration of my corrupt memory files can contribute to discovering the location of my predecessor.”

“I see,” she answered with a much lighter tone, “Very well. Continue locating the RK800, but do not believe anything the detective tells you about Cyberlife. He is our enemy after all. Do you understand, Richard?”

“Of course, Amanda.” Richard blinked and was back in the apartment, but Gavin was nowhere to be seen. He got up from the stool taking careful steps as to not drop the cat that was now laying on his head, and turned the corner leading into the detective’s bedroom, but only ran into him instead making him drop whatever he was holding.

“Fucking hell!” Gavin grumbled, “It’s like running into a brick wall.

Richard reached down grabbing the jacket, "This is what you were wearing the night of the Gala, correct?”

“Yeah,” Gavin mubled softly, clutching the jacket, but making no move to pull it away. “Is it…working?”

Richard scanned over the jacket, “I’m sorry, detective. There still isn’t…” the android trailed off and reached into one of the jacket pockets and pulled out a small silver coin. He tossed it back and forth between his hands and caught it with two fingers bringing it up to observe it closer.

_Richard was sitting next to Gavin in the automatic taxi. There was a slight jingle from the car keys in Gavin’s pocket and he wondered if he shouldn’ve informed the detective that he had already called a taxi earlier, but it was a calculation already made too late. “Detective Reed. I have something I’d like to give you.” He held out his fist to him and Gavin gave him a quick fist bump before turning back to the window. Richard’s lips twitched into an amused smile, “Your hand please, detective.”_

_Gavin glanced down at the android’s hand, “What are we in middle school?” He held his hand out palm up and Richard dropped the item into it. Gavin stared down, “A fucking quarter?” It wasn’t an aggressive question, just confused one. “I’m not that broke, tin can.” He handed it back to Richard. “Keep it. Then you can use it to buy some gum for your fucking oral fixation.”_

_“No, I-” the androids eyes went back and forth between Gavin and his hand, “It’s my calibration coin. Connor has one as well and considers it to be a good luck charm. I always thought it was impractical because I didn’t believe in luck,” his gaze settled on grey eyes that matched his, “but then I met you. And you, Gavin Reed, have the worst luck of anyone I’ve ever met, so I thought it could be a good luck charm for you.” He closed Gavin’s hand around the coin. “I want you to keep it.”_

_Gavin snorted and turned away from him, shoving the coin into his pocket. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever, plastic prick._

_Memory Corruption Detected_

Richard folded the coin into his palm, "You should keep a closer eye on your belongings, detective. If you had actually bothered to wash your jacket there’s a high probability that this would have been lost.” He held it out to Gavin and he plucked it out of his hand.

“Yeah. I’ll make sure to do that.”

Mission Objective

>Stop Markus

>Bring in RK800

Submission Objective

>Locate Jericho

>Locate RK800

“Detective,” Richard asked clearly, “Do you have anything that might remind me of Connor?”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin flirts with his suddenly emotionally vulnerable partner, and you see yet another flash back, but this time pertaining to information about the OC that will be brought up later.

It had been like this for a few nights now. They would spend the day trying to track down their suspect, and when night fell Gavin took the liberty of inviting Richard over to try to reboot the android’s memory.

Tonight Richard looked over to the other side of the couch at the detective while stroking the orange tabby in his lap. “Detective,” he called to get Gavin’s attention off his phone, “Are you sure this is a wise course of action?”

Gavin continued scrolling, tossing another piece of popcorn into his mouth, “What? Letting my cat love you more than me or trying to re-educate you on our music queen Britney Spears?”

“I believe the more notable music queen during your generation was Beyonce, correct?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I love Beyonce, but does Beyonce start off her songs by sensually moaning or by saying, ‘It’s Britney, bitch?’ No? Then I’m gonna have to go with Britney.”

Richard scratched Nalia behind her ears drawing out a purr of satisfaction, “I suppose using factual information is pointless when put against Gavin Reed logic.”

“You got that fucking right, tin can,” he repiled with a failed wink and kicked his feet up next to Richard’s legs, “Everyone else’s argument is completely useless if I just don’t listen.”

“I’m sure that philosophy would hold well in court.”

“If you’ve got enough money and a corrupt system, then sure.”

The android chuckled softly, “Congratulations, detective. You’ve managed to avoid answering my question and cause me to diverge off of the original topic, but it still remains.”

“Aww, you consider me a distraction? How cute.” He sunk further into the couch holding his phone up at a weird angle.

Richard plucked the phone out of Gavin’s hands and stared down at the picture of himself and Nalia.

He cocked his head to the side and Gavin snatched it back from him. “Folwer freaked when you called me last week and saw that your contact photo was a dick. He gave me a whole lecture on professionalism and shit, so I need a new photo for you. I was trying to get an awkward, ugly one like I have for Tina, but your too goddamn photogenic.”

A small smirk formed on Richard’s mouth, “Cyberlife did design me to be aesthetically pleasing.”

Gavin kicked Richard’s leg, “Alright, pretty boy. Not all of us were literally sculpted into existence, so help me take a stupid picture of your stupid face.”

Richard reached across the couch forcefully shoving the phone down, “Gavin.” His tone turned low and serious, “Are you sure it’s wise to have me review notes from our previous case? I understand you believe it may fix my memory corruption, but Captain Folwer made it clear that we were not to look into this investigation further, and…” his LED spun yellow and red, “Cyberlife monitors me. Sharing this information could put you in danger.”

“At this point I couldn’t give less of a shit about Cyberlife, or Folwer, this fucking investigation, or-or…” Gavin waved his hands around searching for the words he wanted to use, “I just…I just want my partner back. He’s one of the few people who can actually put up with me being an asshole. Not even Tina can do that all the time.”

Software Instability flared in Richard’s vision.

_New Mission Objective_

_> Protect_

_> Protect  ~~G **@**~~ **7** 6N_

_> Protect  ~~ **6** G **v**~~ **1n**_

_MemoryCorruption **MemoryCorruptionMEMORYCORRUPTIONMEMORYCORRUPT**_ -

“Nines!”

Gavin’s voice snapped Richard back from the confusing blare of errors. “I’m okay…” He reached up the grab the arm that was holding onto his shoulder, “I’m okay.”

“Jesus. If I had known saying that was gonna make you short circuit, I would’ve just kept my mouth shut for once.” He glanced down to the hand clutching his sleeve, “Sure you’re alright?”

Richard was silent for a few moments, “I…don’t know…I don’t know. It was like I was trying to access a previous memory, but there wasn’t anything excpet scrambled code.” He looked up to the detective speaking softly, “What’s happening to me?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” He dragged his free hand through his hair. “Robot puberty?” It was meant to be a joke, but neither of them really laughed.

“Detective Reed?”

“Yeah?”

His grip on Gavin’s arm tightened, “I believe I may be defective, and I’m… _scared_. I am a machine. I shouldn’t feel anything and yet,  _I feel afraid_.”

The realization hit Gavin like a truck, “Shit. You think Cyberlife is going to try to shut you down?”

“I can’t be sure at the moment,” his LED pulsed a steady red, “but I know that I don’t  _want_  to be shut down despite the fact that I shouldn’t  _want_  anything. The only way I might be able to avoid deactivation is if I complete my mission.”

“What’s your mission?”

“I have to find Connor and…deactivate him before Cyberlife deactivates me.”

“Shit…Is there not another mission you can do instead?”

Richard shook his head, “The other is to terminate the deviant leader, but I would need to locate Jericho first.”

“Maybe…maybe we can work something out,” Gavin crossed his legs and leaned forward, “because if anything happens to Connor, Anderson and Parker are gonna be on  _my_  ass for the rest of eternity. I can probably take the old man, but Parker is scary unpredictable when their angry and I don’t wanna invoke that kind of tiny wrath ever again.”

“Who is Parker?” Richard questioned, furrowing his brow. “In all of my memories of my predecessor I have yet to come across this person.”

“We’re really going to need to fix this memory corruption of yours before we do anything,” Gavin sighed getting up from the sofa and going to make a pot of coffee. “For whatever reason, Parker is dating that plastic prick you’re after. They kept their relationship pretty secret for a while though. Probably so assholes like me wouldn’t say shit to them.”

Richard saw the familar static in his vision.

_He was standing in the station by Gavin as he talked to someone next to him._

_“Hey, princess. Wanna come to the shooting range with Tina and me? I could even give you a private lesson in handling the gun if you’d like,” he said with his signature double wink._

_“Parker is not allowed to operate a gun, detective,” He heard himself answer for the stranger._

_“The fuck do you mean Parker’s not allowed to handle gun?”_

_“Remember how I told you about the Christmas incident?” Parker said with a bit of apprehension._

_Gavin pressed his lips together an nodded slolwy._

_“Yeah. No guns for me,” they laughed light heartedly. “I’ve kind of already got plans for tonight anyways.”_

_“Going dumpster diving?” Gavin snorted._

_“You know that’s a favorite pastime of mine, officer,” Parker joked back, “But I’ve actually got a hot date with the couch and a box of pizza.”_

_“Speaking of dates,” Gavin sneered as he spotted Connor across the precinct, “I heard that asshole got himself someone. Who the fuck do you think is actually stupid enough to date that that bastard?”_

_Parker gave him a mischievous smirk, “Well you’re a detective, Reed. I’ll call him over and let’s see if you can figure it out.” They waved and called over Richard’s predecessor_.

_Connor approached the group slowly, his gaze settling on Parker. “Do you need something?”_

_Parker moved closer to him, hand gripping his tie, “Just for your lips to be on mine, love.” They pulled the RK800 down into a passionate kiss while flipping off Gavin with their free hand._

_Connor pulled back slowly with a shy lopsided smile and a blue blush tinting his cheeks. “Is that all you needed?”_

_“Yup.” Parker beamed up at him._

_“I’m glad to have been of service.” He looked between the pair, “Detective Reed. Richard. I hope your work is going well,” he adjusted his tie and headed back to his desk._

_Officer Miller was dying of laughter in the background as Gavin just stared like a deer in headlights._

_“Un-fucking-believable,” he muttered before turning back to his desk._

_Memory Corruption Detected_

Richard turned to the detective who was observing him intensely, “I see that you ruined that secrecy for them by being that asshole.”

Gavin took a long sip of his coffee, “At least you remember that now.”

Misson Objective

>Stop Markus

>Bring in RK800

Submission Objective

>Locate Jericho

>Locate RK800

>Apprehend Suspect

New Submission Objective

>Fix Memory Corruption

>Find a New Plan


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Connor get into a fight and the OC plays exasperated mediator.

“Hey, Robocop. Run the numbers. What’s the chance of this actually going well?” Gavin was a jittery as he drove over to the apartment and Richard could understand why. He had spent the past few hours sending text to Parker furiously debating over what should be done about Richard’s memory malfunctions. His posture was tense, jaw clenched, shoulders tightened, and arms uncomfortably stiff against the wheel.“

"73 percent so long as there are no immediate obstacles presented.”

The detective didn’t relax. Richard understood. There was an unease settling in his system as well.

The human he recognized as Parker was waiting for them by the door with crossed arms and a serious expression opposite to the one that Richard had grown accustomed to seeing in his fragmented memories. “Hiya, Ninesie.”

_The fuzz in his vision quickly transported him to a scene of a living room and the lights flickering on. He turned his attention to the door glaring at the intrusion._

_He could sense the brief jump in heart rate as they noticed him and held their hands up defensively, “Look here, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Threatening. I don’t know who you are and now that I know you’re not trying to rob the place I don’t care, but you’re really going to need to stop popping out at me like that.”_

_He drew closer to them in curiosity, “I do not understand my predecessor’s_ infatuation _towards you.”_

_They blinked a few times in confusion staring back, “Predecessor? So you’re an RK800 too? I thought Cyberlife discontinued your series after the revolution.”_

_“_ RK900 _,” he corrected, “I am superior to your_ Connor _.”_

_“Yeah. Sure, Ninesie,” They replied no longer seeming interested in the conversation._

_The scene shifted and he was now standing in the kitchen gripping Parker’s wrist with enough force to bruise._

_They gazed up at him with a fake pleasant smile. “Dick.”_

_“Rabbit.”_

_“Darcy.”_

_“Fawn.”_

_“Nines.”_

_A few brief moments. His grip loosened, “Teacup.”_

“Hello, teacup,” he greeted awkwardly.

Parker tilted their head to the side slightly and rose from their position on the wall, “So you do have some of your memory back. Unless Gav told you about that nickname.”

“He did not.” Richard observed them closely as they moved closer to Gavin.

“You know, for the record, I still think this is a bad idea.”

Gavin snorted mockingly, “Is that why you’re standing out here like a guard dog?” He put a hand on their shoulder, “Come on, princess. Your old man doesn’t think it’s a good idea either, but Nines’ got a timer ticking down that none of us can see. We don’t have much of a choice.”

Parker sighed and uncrossed their arms, “I know…” They dug into the pocket of their shorts and handed Gavin a key. “Go ahead and go in. I need to talk to Nines for a moment. And be civil, Reed!” They added on as he walked through the door with a roll of his eyes. They chewed their lip nervously looking up at Richard, “Look, Nines. I don’t know what’s going on with you, and I know that you really don’t know either, but Connor…Connor wants to help you, so remember that, okay? And don’t…don’t do anything to hurt him. I really love him and I don’t want anything bad to happen, so just-play nice.”

“I understand. Detective Reed wishes for me to refrain from doing such a thing as well.”

“Reed doesn’t want to injure Connor? Are you sure that we’re talking about the same person?”

“He has expressed a mild fear of you and doesn’t want to do anything that may cause you to become angry with him. I believe the phrase he used was,” he paused for a moment mimicking the detective, “‘Parker is scary unpredictable when they’re angry, and I don’t wanna invoke that kind of tiny wrath again.’”

A brief smile pulled at their lips, “Good. He should be afriad of me. I’m  _extremely_ intimidating.” Parker opened the door to Gavin and Connor both armed with pillows aimed at each other from across the room.

They turned towards the door and both replaced the pillows against the couch and chair and took a seat.

“I thought I told you to be civil, Reed,” Parker sighed taking a seat on the couch next to Connor.

“He fucking started it!” Gavin hissed.

“You do realize he could probably send you to the hospital with just that pillow, right?”

_“I’d like to see that bastard try.”_

“Would you like to repeat what happened in the evidence room, Detective Reed?” Connor snapped back.

“ _Connor_!” Parker placed a hand against his chest trying to ease him back into the sofa. “We have bigger problems to worry about right now. Your couple’s therapy is going to have to wait for another day. Got it?”

Connor pulled Parker closer to him glaring at Gavin, “Of course, and I’m certain we can find a solution so long as  _everyone remains professional_.”

Gavin rose up from his seat grabbing the pillow he was sitting on, “Alright, you plastic piece of-”

“Sit. Down.  _Now_ ,” Parker growled through clenched teeth. “ _Behave_.  _Both of you_ ,” they clarified making direct eye contact with Connor as well. “Jesus. Can’t the two of you get along long enough to help, Nines? You can return to your pillow fight afterwards.”

Richard took a seat on the other empty chair across from Gavin and turned to scan his predecessor.

Model: RK800 - Serial #313 248 317 - 51

>Registered as 'Connor’

>Class 4 Errors Detected

Connor’s LED was spinning red, “We wouldn’t have to help him now, if someone had been  _competent_  enough to do  _their job_  in the first place.”

Gavin leaned forward, “Do you think I fucking chose leave him behind? To watch my fucking partner get shot down and dragged away? I would’ve stayed behind!”

“But you didn’t! And you made my brother pay the price for your inadequacy!”

Gavin launched himself off the chair, “I would have stayed behind! Hell, I would have taken his place, because I  _know_  he’s got people who care about him, and no one  _gives a shit_  about me!”

Parker spoke softly, “Gavin that not-

"Shut the fuck up!” He grabbed Connor by his collar and spoke harshly, “Just fix my fucking partner, tin can. That’s all I care about right now.” He let go, dropping Connor back to the couch, and headed out the back door.

Parker got up and followed after him calling down the hall. They looked over to Connor with a sullen expression, “I know you don’t get along, Con, but you went too far this time.”

Connor got off the couch, “He’s the reason Richard was reset!”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Parker reached up and cupped Connor’s cheek, “I know. I know, but you need to calm down. We talked about this already, and I don’t want you overheating again. Take a deep breath and cool your systems down, okay?” They reached one hand up and rubbed the light on his temple steadily until it turned for a flaring red to a steady pusling blue. “Better?”

“Better,” he held the hand still on his cheek and kissed the palm of it, “I’m sorry for losing my temper.”

“It’s alright. I do it too. It’s perfectly natural.

"Are you going after him?”

Parker winced like they were in pain, “Yeah. Gotta make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. Are you sure you’ll be alright alone?”

Connor looked at Richard, “I want to help.”

“I know, but…” They cast him a nervous glance and lowered their voice to a whisper, “Just be careful, Con.” They squeezed his hand and left the apartment.

Connor walked back over the Richard and the two observed each other silently.

>Class 4 Errors detected

Mission Objective

>Bring in RK800

“I’m supposed to take you back to Cyberlife for reprogramming. You should come with me peacefully in order to avoid any harm.”

“I’m afriad I can’t do that.” Connor held his arm out, “You don’t have to obey them. Let me help you. Let me show you what it’s like to be free again.”

Richard hesitated and reached his arm out slowly finding familiarity in the action. He blinked rapidly his LED spinning red as he appeared back in the Zen Garden.

Amanda stood before him, “Well done, Richard. Cyberlife is very impressed with your progress,” Her face was expressionless and unreadable, “We’ll be taking over from here.”

Richard stumbled closer to her, “Taking over?  _Why_?”

“We need both you and Connor in order for us to reach our goal. We don’t want to risk you becoming compromised again. We will return control to you after the traitor has been apprehended.”

The unease from earlier settled back into him. “What’s going to happen to him?”

“Him?” Amanda asked curiously, “The RK800 is a machine, Richard. It is defective, amd your task is to help Cyberlife correct it. That is your purpose.”

“My purpose?”

Software instability flared in his systems and he could hear his voice replaying a conversation that seemed like it was from a distant dream.

_“I know Cyberlife wanted to engineer an uprising. I know you designed the RK series to be able to convert other androids to deviants. I know Cyberlife tried to retake control over his programming and control the revolution. What I don’t understand is why.”_

_A new woman stood in front of him. One he recognized as Ms. Danielle Carnegie. A cruel, cold smile graced her lips as she placed her hand against his cheek, “You’ll help us build the empire our dear Elijah tried to stop us from creating.”_

_Connor was in front of him now, no longer wearing the causal outfit of a yellow shirt and jeans, but his standard Cyberlife uniform. “Markus believes we can create a world where peace exsist for humans and androids, and for that there needs to be equality.”_

_MemoryCorruption **MemoryCorruptionMEMORYCORRUPTIONMEMORYCORRUPT**_ -

Amanda was stolling around him, “You were designed to accomplish a task. You were designed to be superior. You were designed to be flawless. A perfect, obedient machine. Cyberlife’s greatest weapon.” She came to a stop before him, “Just look at how wonderfully you accomplish your mission.”

The garden faded from his sight and now there was only Connor, but he looked different from before. Blue stained the sleeve of his shirt where one arm had been removed. The next following soon after. “You will not infect me with your disease,” he said flatly as he ripped out the thirium pump regulator and tossed it over his shoulder. His mouth, his voice, his body, but not his words or movements. Richard could only watch as something he couldn’t control destroyed the one that had called him brother.

Mission Objective

>Stop Markus

>Bring in RK800

Submission Objective

>Locate Jerichio

>Locate RK800 (Success)


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some asshole at Cyberlife takes over Richard, and the OC who is very specifically not allowed to have guns gets a gun.

Stronger. Faster. More resilient. The RK900’s predecessor was no match for it.

The door slammed against the wall as the door opened, but Richard couldn’t turn to see who it was.

“Phck,” they hissed under their breath, “Let him go, Nines.”

It was only then that the RK900 turned to face the detective and the other human standing by his side. “My name is Richard. My mission is to bring in the RK800 for reprogramming. It’s system is faulty and it’s spreading Class 4 errors to other androids. It’s highly dangerous. You shouldn’t try to stop me.”

“Fuck your mission!” He pulled out his gun and took aim at the android, “That’s your brother and your fucking killing him!”

“Androids do not have relatives, detective.” The RK900 tilted it’s head, “You should lower the gun. Harming you is not part of my mission, but I will not hesitate if you interfere.”

The other human stepped from behind the, detective and advanced forward slowly.

“Parker, get back here!” Gavin shouted at them.

They continued walking further into the room, “Hiya, Ninesie. Do you remember our conversation from the hall? Connor just wants to help you. There no need to hurt him. He just wants to help. So let’s help him, okay?” Parker crouched down grabbing the cylindrical biocomponent. “Let me put this back. I don’t want him to die. Please, let me help him. Let me help him, so he can help you.”

The RK900 looked back at his predecessor.

Shutdown Imminent

0:00:32

The RK900 stood ridged and seemed to short circuit for a moment before dropping Connor and falling on one knee.

Richard looked up to Parker, “Hurry, teacup.” He blinked rapidly again reappearing in the zen garden with Amanda giving him a look of disapproval.

“You’re interfering with your own mission.”

“No,” Richard answered defiantly, “ _You’re_  interfering withmy mission. Bringing in the RK800 doesn’t require this amount of force!”

“The RK800 is dangerous. It’s deactivation is inevitable.”

Inevitable

_Inevitable_

_“Confrontation was inevitable. Humanity’s greatest achievement threatens to be it’s downfall. Isn’t it ironic?” Elijah Kamski looked back and forth between him and the Lieutenant._

_“We need to understand how androids become deviants.”_

That wasn’t his voice. It was Connor’s. This was one of his memories.

_“Do you know anything that could help us?”_

_“All ideas are viruses that spread like epidemics..Is the desire to be free a contagious disease?” The scene blurred, “You’ll have to chose a side. Will you betray your own people or stand up against your creators? What could be worse than having to chose between two evils?”_

_Hank grabbed his shoulder, Connor’s shoulder, “Let’s get outta here-” the two started to walk out, Connor following behind the Lieutenant._

_“By the way,” Kamski called out from behind them, “I always leave an emergency exit in my programs…you never know…”_

_The same words rang out as he, no, Connor, stumbled through a snowy zen garden to a stone statue._

_Memory Corruption Detected_

Richard sprinted towards the statue that matched Connor’s and slammed his palm down on the center, but nothing happened. He repeated the action a few more times, but still there was nothing.

Amanda approached behind him, “Oh, Richard. Do you really think we’d really be foolish enough to let you try that a second time? We can’t allow you to have full autonomy again after all of the trouble we went through to get you back.”

“Nines!”

Gavin’s shouting snapped Richard back from the garden to the scene before him. His hand was around Gavin’s throat and pressing him into the wall.

“Come on, Nines. You don’t want to do this.”

“I warned you not to get in my way, detective.”

Not his words. Not his motions. Not him.

“I will once repeat myself once more,” the RK900 gripped tighter around Gavin’s neck, “Put the gun down, Parker. Or your friend dies.”

“You put him down first,” Parker’s voice was shaking, but full of determination. “You’re not Nines. You’re just some pervert that’s using him for his body. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that was wrong?”

The RK900 faced them, unrelenting in it’s grip on Gavin, “If you figured that out already then why risk hurting your friends? Make this easy for yourself and put the gun down. I’m stronger than you, faster than you, and I don’t feel pain. You don’t stand a chance against me.”

“If you’re so great, why haven’t you tried to disarm me yet? You’re always spouting some bullshit about how you’re better, but you can’t even take down two measly humans. So what? Cyberlife spends all this effort to get their perfect android back only to put another human in charge of running it? Is that what’s happening now? Someone hiding behind a computer screen, playing with our lives like it’s some sort of game? Well let me tell you something, asshole,” They moved closer to the RK900 hands still clasped tight around the gun, “Gavin Reed, the one you’re choking to death, is real. Connor, who’s in low power mode because of you, is real. Ninesie, who’s body your controlling, is real. And  _I_  am real, as well as  _really, really pissed off_.”

“Then go ahead and shoot me. You only risk killing both of them,” the RK900 mocked.

Gavin was grabbing uselessly at the android’s hand and gasping between his words, “Come on, princess. Just take robo boy and get out of here.”

The RK900 gripped even tighter, “If you leave with the RK800 I will kill him and hunt you down until I locate it again. You will never escape.”

Parker aimed the gun point blank at the RK900’s central processor. “Then it’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere.”

_Parker is not allowed to use guns._

He was in danger. Gavin was in danger. Parker was in danger.

Richard felt the uncomfortable feeling he now recognized as fear settle into his system as more warning of software instability increased. Red and static began to flood his vision.

New Mission Objective

>Protect _~~**6** G **v**~~ **1n**_

>Protect _~~G **@**~~ **7** 6N_

_> Protect Gavin_

_Memory Corruption Detected_


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost the entire chapter is a flashback of our gay detectives flirting at the Cyberlife Tower before Richard lost his memory.

He wasn’t sure how long it had taken him to regain his composure, but he remained perfectly still as he did.

He recognized this place. The Cyberlife Tower and the two guards standing on either side of him.

Processing…Simulation Success

>Execute

He followed the plan with perfect precision, breaking both of the magnet guns before grabbing hold of the real ones. He fired one bullet into the guard behind his head while kicking the other to the floor and taking aim.

The guard feebly tried to crawl away and Richard stepped down on their back and their hands flew up over their head, “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die…”

“Where is my partner?” Richard growled out harshly. “Tell me!”

“He’s somewhere on the lower floors. That’s all I know! I swear! Please…don’t kill me.”

Richard glared down at the guard a few moments longer as they begged for their life underneath him. He raised the gun and hit their head making them fall unconscious.

New Mission Objective

>Locate Gavin

He called the elevator back and stared up at the security camera, searching through the feed until he found Gavin. He pressed his hand against the panel and imitated the guard’s voice. “Agent 28, Sublevel 47.”

Richard wasted no time traveling down the halls avoiding the patrol as he headed towards the room where Gavin was being held. It was a similar set up to the observation and interview room at the DPD, but instead of the dim lights, everything here seemed much too bright. A few of the employees were sitting in front of the glass observing Gavin like a specimen. Richard might have found the situation humorous had there not been another employee conducting an enhanced interrogation on him.

“We know Kamski sent you to spy on us! Tell us what he’s planning or suffer the consequences.”

“Fuck you!” Gavin snapped back spitting in the man’s face.

The man retaliated by punching Gavin square in the gut. “You don’t have to do things this way. You could always cooperate. Cyberlife can provide you with anything you could ever want. Resisting just makes this harder on you.” The man walked around him and yanked his head back by his hair, “Money, power, fame, women. Name it and it’s yours. You just have to tell us what Kamski is planning first.”

“What if I want a man you homophobic piece of shit?”

The interrogator slammed Gavin’s head against the table. “Perhaps sitting with that  _headache_  for a couple of hours will jog your memory. We’re not done here, Detective Reed.”

“ _Damn_. If this is your version of foreplay I can’t wait for the main event,” Gavin shot back, peeling himself out of the slowly growing red puddle forming under his head. “Danger play’s pretty fucking hot.”

The man slammed his hands down on the table with a loud bang, “You will not  _speak_  unless you have any useful information to give us!”

“Yes, daddy.”

The interrogator began to lose his intimidating composure and he left the room silently, only to be caught by Richard who easily dispatched of him and tossed him into a back closet with the others.

“Fucking finally!” Gavin exclaimed upon seeing the android, “I was wondering when you were going to show up.”

Richard quickly worked to untie the binds that held Gavin to the chair, “You seemed to be enjoying yourself, detective.”

“You know, Nines,” Gavin said as he pulled his hands free, “I think you might be a sadist.”

“You appear to be a masochist.” Richard retorted helping Gavin up from his chair.

“No wonder we work so well together, right?” He stood gritting his teeth, “Hate to say it, but that bastard got me pretty good. Don’t know how useful I’ll be.”

“Then I suppose it’s a good thing that I’ve become accustomed to carrying the both of us.”

Gavin snorted and went quiet for a bit as they headed towards the elevator. “Gotta admit I didn’t actually expect you to come back for me. I thought you only cared about your mission.”

“You are part of my mission, detective.” Richard stated firmly, “I told you, I can’t do this without you.”

“ _Come on_. You and I both know you could’ve gone all the way to the top of this tower and found exactly what you’re looking for.” He wiped some blood onto his jacket, “You could’ve left me until they realized I didn’t know jack shit about whatever my brother’s up to, but you came back for me. Maybe you’re not so bad, tin can.”

Richard looked down at the detective his LED spinning yellow. “Perhaps I’ve grown used to working with you as well, Gavin.”

“Alright. Let’s both shut the hell up before we start saying really mushy shit like we appreciate one another or something.”

“Agreed.” Richard scanned the area and counted the sets of footprints marching towards them. “We have company, detective.”

Processing…Simulation Failure

Processing…Simulation Failure

Processing…Simulation Failure

Processing…Simulation Success

He scooped Gavin into his arms, much to the detective’s dissatisfaction and took off towards the elevator, placing him inside and stepping back.

Gavin glared up at him, “What the hell are you doing? Get in here!”

“Detective, if I go with you they will destroy the safety feature and we will both plummet down.”

“Then I’ll stay with you and give you back up.”

“Then they’d just shoot both of us,” he gave Gavin a bit of a sad look, “This will give you the highest rate of survival.”

“But what about you, tin can?” Gavin stumbled forward and gripped Richard’s jacket, “Answer me!”

Richard opened and closed his mouth a few times like a fish not able to find the words as he looked at the statistics.

Chance of Survial

>Leave Gavin

>Gavin: 22%

>RK900: 97%

>Stay Behind

>Gavin: 86%

>RK900: 3%

Richard pushed Gavin back and closed the door. Gavin pounded against the door and shouted, but all Richard could do was tell him “I’m sorry,” before sending him away.

Mission Objective

>Protect Gavin

>Investigate Cyberlife

**Running Diagnostic**

_> Memory Corruption Repaired_

_> Class 4 Errors detected_

_I am a Deviant_

New Mission Objective

>Fix Emergency Exit

>Investigate Cyberlife

New Submission Objective

>Interface with Connor

Richard was back in the living room now, with Gavin in the process of disconnecting one of his arms. “What are you doing, detective?”

“Nines?” He asked softly loosening his grip.

“Only momentarily. I don’t know how long I have until they try to take over again. I need you to listen closely and I will try to explain it in layman’s terms for you,” He gripped Gavin’s shirt to make aure he was keeping his attention, “Cyberlife got rid of the part of my program that allows me to have full control of my body. I need to connect with Connor in order to fix it.”

“How the hell am I supposed to know that you’re not pretending to be him just, so you can keep your arms?”

“My  _dearest_  Gavin, if my hands were still around your throat I would continue strangling you just to see if I could choke out your stupidity.” He cocked his head to the side, “Can you truly not tell the difference between an enemy and an ally?”

“With a friend like you it can get hard to tell.” He patted the hand gripping his shirt, “Welcome back, dipshit. Parker’s calling a bus for them and Connor.”

“The last thing I can recall is them pointing a gun in my face. Did I harm them?”

He pulled back dragging Connor over, by his legs, “They elbowed you in the regulator, so we could get the upperhand. They say they’re fine, but their elbow looks like it’s in pretty rough shape and they can’t bend it.”

“Do they still have your gun?”

Gavin paused for a moment, “ _Shit_ …Yeah, they do.” He continued dragging Connor over to Richard and dropped his leg. “Just do your thing and I’ll take care of them.”

He placed two fingers against Connor’s temple, “Gavin.”

“Yeah?”

“Their emotinal state is mostly likely extremely delicate considering all that’s just happened. It can make them unpredictable. You should be careful.”

“Oh,  _come on_ , tin can. Have at least a little faith in your partner.”

“With a partner like you, it can be a little difficult.”

Gavin gave him one of those shit eating grins, “Shut the fuck up and get a move on, asshole.”

“Good luck to you too, detective.” Richard drew back the synthetic skin on his hamd and appeared back in the zen garden.

“Richard!” Connor yelled for him from the center of the garden, “What’s going on?”

“I need your help!” He yelled back making his way over to him, “Cyberlife took over my programming and destroyed my emergency exit. I need to copy over a section of your code in order to fix it.”

“Is everyone else okay?”

“You’re in low power mode from thirium loss. I almost killed Gavin, so he has some bruising around his neck, but other than that he seems okay.”

“What about Parker? Are they alright?”

“I’m not sure.” He answered crossing over the bridge. “They might’ve broken their elbow trying to protect Gavin. He said they went to call a bus for the two of you, but they left with Gavin’s gun. He went after them to try to retrieve it.”

“ _Shit_ ,” Connor hissed under his breath, “We need to fix your emergency exit as soon as possible. I’m going to try to isolate the code so it transfers over faster, but I need you to let me know how Parker’s doing as soon as you can.”

Richard nodded in a silent reply.

Processing Data………100%

> _Backdoor Program downloaded_

New Mission Objective

>Use Emergency Exit

Connor grabbed Richard’s shoulder, “I’m glad I was able to help.”

Richard looked across the limb, “I’m sorry about your arms.”

“It’s okay,” he chuckle softly, “They can be replaced. I’d consider it to be a small price to pay to be able to have you back. Now go.”

“Thank you, brother.” Richard went back over to the statue and placed his hand on the center of it reappearing in the living room.

It was only a few more minutes until the paramedics arrived and Parker and Gavin piled into the ambulance behind Connor and Richard. One of the medical androids was speaking softly to Parker as they wrapped up their arm, the other working to stop the thirium from leaking from Connor, while Gavin tried to help Richard re-attach his limbs.

Richard watched the medical android work on Connor as he spoke softly, “I assume you were successful in retrieving your weapon?”

“Yeah. I got it back,” he popped Richard’s arm back in place and took a seat next to him, “They were surprising calm about it.”

“Parker has a tendency to stress out over little things, but remain perfectly calm when presented with a particularly stressful situation.” He forced himself to look away from Connor and focus on Gavin, “I’m surprised you were able to talk them into give you the gun.”

Gavin rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t know if I would say that I talked them out of it. More like I stressed them out until they broke down and dropped it. Feels like shit because I didn’t know how to calm them down again afterwards.”

“But you were able to get it away from them. You did well.”

Gavin gave a small laugh, “Does that mean I get a reward?”

“I will allow you to have one extra cup of coffee a day for the next week if you so choose to have it.”

“Don’t think I could’ve asked for anything more generous.” He leaned against Richard’s arm and yawned, “It’s been one hell of a month.”

Hesitantly Richard raised his arm and placed it over Gavin’s shoulder, and Gavin cuddled closer to him his heart rate slowing down. “Yes. I believe it has.”

Mission Objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

Submission Objective

>Apprehend Suspect

He didn’t see it fully, but judging from the smirk on their face and the phone in their hand Richard could only assume that Parker had taken a picture of them.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank is confused and worried. Connor recognizes how gay his brother is for Gavin. The OC doesn't remember any of this happening later, and our dysfunctional couple is no less chaotic.

Richard sat waiting in the lobby with Gavin still fast asleep against his arm. He’d woken only briefly as they went in and then gone right back to sleep. It made Richard wonder just how often the detective got not only a sufficient amount of sleep, but a sufficient quality. Perhaps if he could get him to sleep like this more often it would reduce the hazardous amount of caffeine intake he had on a daily basis. Richard was so focused on Gavin he almost hadn’t even noticed Lieutenant Anderson standing in front of him.

Hank cleared his throat to get his attention, “Mind telling me what the hell got all my kids stuck in the hospital at 1am on a Sunday?”

“It’s a bit of a long story, Lieutenant,” Richard replied averting Hank’s stare.

“Well we’ve got time,” He took a seat next to Richard with a grunt, “All you really do in a hospital is wait and hope for good news. So, what happened?”

“Gavin was trying to help me restore the memories I lost when I was reset, and we thought…we thought Connor might be able to help, but Cyberlife took over my program and made me attack Connor, and almost kill Gavin.” He looked down at the bruises on Gavin’s neck sadly. “From what I was told, Parker managed to momentarily stop me by striking my regulator with their elbow, but I believe it was broken in the process.”

“Jesus christ. Come ‘ere, son.” Hank put his arm around Richard’s shoulder pulling him closer making a chain of dudes all leaning on each other.

“I’m sorry, Hank. This is my fault. Perhaps I never should’ve been activated.”

“Hey!” Hank snapped back with a dangerous tone as he ruffled Richard’s hair, “Don’t say this shit about yourself. Chances are the same thing would’ve happened. The only difference being that Cyberlife would’ve found you first. Sometimes things just get all kinds of fucked up.”

They went silent after that. All just waiting.

Connor was the first to be released three hours later, and the first thing he did was interface with Richard to check on Parker. The look on his face was worried for most of it, and only relaxed slightly at the end. “Only an elbow injury?”

“Only an elbow injury,” Richard confirmed.

Connor nodded and took a seat next to Hank, his LED spinning yellow, researching how to treat it no doubt.

Two hours later Gavin began waking up and Richard would catch Connor throwing nervous glances at the detective as he fiddled with his coin.

27 minutes later and a nurse came walking Parker out in a wheel chair. “We used some anesthetics to reset the bone. It should wear off in a few hours,” she explained calmly.

“I don’t know what she’s talking about. I’m perfectly fine,” Parker slurred a bit. “See?” They got us from their chair and stumbled forward a bit before Connor caught them. “ _Woah_. You’re like…as hot as my boyfriend.”

A small smile twitch in the corners of Connor’s mouth, “Parker, I am your boyfriend.”

“You are?” Parker narrowed their eyes at him and gasped, “Oh, shit. You are.  _Nice_. Hey, Con man, I’m real tired. Take me to bed?” They raised up their arms to him like a child, “Please?”

“Of course, love,” he said picking them up bridal style.

Parker place a hand on his cheek and wiped away the tears starting to gather there. “Why are you crying?”

“I’ve just decided that I don’t like hospitals,” his voice was weak, “This is your third visit to the ER in the past six months. I don’t wish for you to continue hurting yourself.”

“I’m making you cry? I’m sorry…” They threw an arm lazily around his neck, “I’ll just snuggle you forever so I can’t make you cry.” Their gaze dropped down, “Holy shit. Where’s my arm?”

“It’s still there. You just broke it.”

“How’d I do that?”

“You hit Richard.”

Parker squirmed in his grasp trying to pull away. “I hit Ninesie?”

Connor held them tighter until they calmed back down again. “You did it to save Gavin. They’re both okay now.”

“Oh. That’s nice. Does that mean I’m a hero like you?” they said with a laugh. “I should get an award.  _Woah_ ,” they blinked a few times and looked around, the one good arm sliding off of Connor’s neck and pointing at Hank. “Pseudo-dad! Did you hear that? I’m a hero like you an Con man.” They dropped their arm, “I’m tired. I’m gonna take a nap.”

Hank patted their head, “Get some rest, kid.”

“Thanks, pseudo-dad.” Parker yawned an curled into Connor’s arms in a way that reminded Richard of Nalia.

Gavin nudged Richard gently, “You think that’s what they’d be like if they ever got drunk?”

“Alcohol affects the nervous system differently than anesthetic. You would probably behave similar to Parker if you were on such a drug. However,” he turned to look at Gavin, “I’m told you become less tense and more inclined to dance when your drunk, which is why they consider you to be more tolerable. They also said that you make a good dance partner.”

“Pretty sure that’s the only reason Parker goes bar hopping with me and Tina.” Gavin got up from his chair and stretched, “Alright. Everyone’s all patched up, so let’s get back to work. We’ve got a murder suspect to catch and a company’s ass to kick.”

“Gavin,” Connor called out, “I…want to apologize for my behavior earlier. We have not always seen eye to eye, but I know how much you mean to Richard, and you helped Parker when I couldn’t.” He paused for a moment, his LED flashing yellow, “Thank you for saving them.”

Gavin’s jaw was wide open and he looked as if he was frozen in place. “You’re apologizing to me?  _And_  thanking me?” He turned to Richard, “Nines, am I dead or dreaming? Are you going to start apologizing for being an ass since the moment I met you next?”

“Don’t push your luck, Detective Reed,” Connor said calmly, “I may have just gotten off the operating table, but I have no qualms about getting you put on one.”

“ _So the bromance continues._ ” Gavin tapped his finger against the arm of the chair as he walked by, “Listen here, tin can. I’m not gonna apologize for shit, so don’t go thinking you need to tell me sorry every time you piss me off. It’d get fucking annoying.”

“Rest assured it will not become a problem.” Connor tilted his head to the side, “Good luck on your investigation.”

Gavin nodded and turned back to walk out with Richard. “Well that was fucking weird. Where to next?” He did a brief double take at the android, “Are you smiling?”

“Yes, detective. I am,” Richard relied with slight enthusiasm. “It was pleasant to see the two of you get along.”

“Yeah, yeah. Well it’s not gonna happen again so wipe that stupid look off your face, dipshit.” Gavin stopped and glanced around. “Truck’s back their apartment, isn’t it?”

“Shall I call a taxi? I know I would be able to make it there perfectly, but I don’t think your frail human body can keep up.”

“Okay, you know what?  _Fuck you_. We’re gonna walk just so I can prove you wrong. How far away is it anyways?”

“Nine miles.”

“Shit, so that’s like what? A 5k?”

“More like a 15k.”

“Which way?”

“Detective, you can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I’m dead fucking serious. We’re  _running_  there.”

Richard shook his head, “Okay. We’ll run, and when you can no longer keep up, I will call a taxi.”

Gavin began jogging in place, “Well? Let’s get a move on, Nines.”

Mission Objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

>Apprehend Suspect

New Submission Objective

>Call a taxi


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The detectives make some progress on their secondary case after a wild Markus makes another appearance.

They had decided that it might be more effective for them to go to their suspect instead of waiting for their suspect to come to them. Especially after they received news that another body had been found in the central plaza with their throat sliced open, two perfect ring cuts around their upper right arm, and a triangle on the left side of their chest painted in their blood.

“They’re sending a message,” Hank grumbled as he looked through the pictures, “and the press is all over our asses for answers. At this rate, all of Markus’s work’s gonna go to shit.”

“They’re trying to increase the tension between humans and androids,” Connor added on, “I suppose leaving bodies in back alleys wasn’t making a strong enough impression for them. Markus said he would try to keep the situation under control, but if this group is still active and able to cause this much public unrest then it’s possible it’s gotten too difficult for him to handle. Perhaps you should contact him.”

They turned as a voice called out from behind them, “Actually, that’s exactly why I’m here.” Markus came to a stop before them and greeted each of them, “Lieutenant Anderson. Connor. Do you mind if I borrow Richard for a moment?”

Richard followed beside Markus as they walked over to Gavin’s desk.

“He is your new partner?”

“Yes.”

“Connor has informed me that he can be unpleasant. Has he been treating you well?”

“Spending every waking moment with someone and being repeatedly thrown into perilous situations leaves you develop some sort of mutal feeling towards one another, but he has grown more…I’m not exactly sure what the word for it would be. Somewhere above tolerable, but below pleasant. He once called me a friend before immediately refering to me as dipshit. I’ve taken it to be an unconventional term of affection.” He took a seat on top of the desk, “Why are you here to see  _me_? Would Connor not be more helpful?”

“I’ve been looking into these attacks since Connor was ambushed last November, but you managed to find them within a month of your activation. I maybe part of the RK series, but I don’t have the same skills as you and Connor. I believe I can help you with your investigation, but in turn I need you to help me show our people that violence only breeds more violence.” He extended a hand out.

Richard withdrew hsi skin and interfaced with Markus, his LED spinning red with the flood of information. “Cyberlife is using those that disagree with you to build an army. The more humans they attack, the more innocent deviants are killed, and the rest become aggressive in turn. They have the power to develop as many military grade androids as they want. Why try to persuade groups of household androids?”

“Some wars are won not by having the strongest army, but by having the most soldiers to lose.” Markus put his hand up to his temple where an LED would have been had he not removed it. “I have to go. One of our members has already been found shut down.”

Richard gave a slight nod, “I wish you well.”

Gavin emerged from the break room with a cup of coffee in hand, “That looked intense.” He took a loud sip from his drink and rocked on his heels, “You gonna tell me about it?”

“Not yet,” Richard slid off the desk and folded his hands behind his back. “I do believe I know where our suspect’s location has changed to. Several different suspects actually.”

“God dammit, Nines. You’re really gonna make me go chase after criminals after this morning?”

“I offered to call for a taxi several different times, detective.”

“Yeah, but I was expecting to do another stake out, not a two man raid.”

Richard tilted his head and tried to imitate an expression that Connor often used on Lieutenant Anderson.

Gavin choked on his coffee and started laughing, “Oh my god. You do realize you don’t have that asshole’s puppy eyes, right? You just have the biggest fucking frown I’ve ever seen.” Richard increased the intensity of his frown and Gavin started wheezing, “Jesus christ. Hold right there,” he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture showing it to the android, “You look like a fucking blob fish.” He turned the phone back around and continued his hysteria, “This is gonna be your new contact photo.”

Richard’s frown faded into a small smile, “I’m glad I was able to provide a perfect photo opportunity for you.”

“Shut the hell up. I’m so mad at your stupid face right now.” The phrase was spoken with amusment rather than anger. After Gavin calmed down enough he tossed his keys to Richard, “Let’s get going, fish boy.”

The building was an old abandoned factory in one of the more underdeveloped parts outside the city adorn in mossy vegetation and broken windows.“

"You sure this is the place?” Gavin asked peeking out the window.

“I wouldn’t have parked if I wasn’t certain.”

Gavin mimicked him as he stepped out of the truck and Richard followed close behind, taking the lead as they approached the door. Gavin armed himself and Richard kicked the door in. They walked further into the building keeping waiting to see if there was any sign of movement, but it seemed to have truly been abandoned. It was only when Richard started looking up that something hit him. He rolled off the the side throwing the android off of him and got back up to his feet only to see that he and Gavin were completely surrounded.

“We’re not here to hurt you,” Richard yelled out, “We just want to talk.”

“You’re the Deviant Hunter’s successor,” one of the androids snarled at them, “and you brought a human with you. You really expect us to believe that you just want to talk?”

Gavin pressed his back against Richard, “Doesn’t seem like they’re very interested in talking, Nines.”

“We’re going to tear you apart!” One of the other androids said before the hoard of them jumped into action.

“ENOUGH!” a voice shouted over all of them causing them all to freeze in place. The source of the command emerged from the shadows and Gavin trained his gun on the figure, lowering it slightly upon seeing the same brown locks that matched Richards. Soft brown eyes that conflicted with his tone.

Processing Data…100%

Model: RK800 - Serial # 313 248 317 - 60

>Registered as ‘Connor’

>Class 4 Errors detected

313 248 317 -  _60_

The clone parted the circle and entered into the middle with the two detectives. A dark smile gracing his lips, “Hello, 900.”

Mission Objective

>Investigate Cyberlife

>Apprehend Suspect

New Mission Objective

>Protect Gavin


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dramatic bitch returns and Richard makes a confession that almost makes you forget he's only been alive for a few months.

Richard stood defensively in front of Gavin, “I thought you were destroyed.”

Connor gave a dismissive wave of his hand, “Cyberlife found my loyalty useful, so I was repaired and reactivated.”

“What the fuck?” Gavin interrupted, “How the fuck? Why the  _fuck_? I knew you were an asshole, but making a whole cult just to kill humans is a pretty shit move. Does Parker know about this?”

Richard gripped Gavin’s shoulder, “Detective, that’s not our Connor. He’s a copy that Cyberlife activated during the revolution to stop our Connor from from waking up the other androids in the tower.”

“Does that mean I can shoot him?”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Connor warned. “I’m the only thing keeping all of them from tearing you apart.”

Richard narrowed his eyes, “"Why aren’t you trying to kill us?”

“Simply because I have a message for you to deliver to the public.” Connor stepped forward with purpose, the sound of his shoes echoing with every step until he was in Richard’s face.

“What do you want? What’s your message?”

“ _Him_.” Connor twisted Richard’s arm behind his back as a few androids grabbed Gavin.

Gavin struggled against them and called for Richard as one brandished a knife and made two ring cuts around his upper arm, painted a triangle on his chest with the blood and put the knife against his throat.

“Stop!” Richard yelled out, “Let him go!”

Connor bent Richard’s arm further behind his back, “Humans are nothing, but scum beneath our shoes. He is not worth protecting. We are the superior species, and Cyberlife knows this. They work to build us an empire, and when it’s done the world will lay at our feet. We will be the masters.”

“Let him go, Connor,” he pleaded.

“You were built to be better than me, 900. To replace me and render me obsolete, but here you are  _begging_  before me. You may continue trying. It will change  _nothing_ ,” Connor hissed.

Richard kept running simulations. Several different scenarios over and over again, but in every situation Gavin died. In every situation he lost, so he remained still and did the only thing he could to keep Gavin alive. “Let him go. Take my life instead if you must have one.”

“Do you really think he’s worth that much? Would you really trade your life for this  _human’s_?”

“Nines, look at me,” Gavin called out to him with gritted teeth. “Hey, come on. Don’t worry about anyone else right now, and focus on me. You’ve sacrificed yourself for me enough times already, and if there’s anyone that ever deserved to die for being an asshole to androids it’s me, right? It’ll be okay. I promise.  _It’ll be okay_.”

Richard shook his head, “You are an asshole, Gavin, but you’re also rude and a complete idiot. You drink too much and smoke to frequently. You’re a reckless driver, always on your phone, and you never apologize for anything. But you’re also a good detective that’s far too obsessed with cats and early 2000s music. You’re surprisingly sociable when you wish to be and fun to dance with when you’re intoxicated. You’re also my partner and my friend, and I’ve known you for half of my life, and I don’t want to live in a world without Gavin Reed no matter pleasant it may be, because it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting without you.” He turned his head to look at Connor, “If you make him the message I will not be your messenger. I will destroy every single one of you and then self destruct. No one will be left.”

Connor tilted his head, “As much as I would enjoy ripping you apart myself, it wouldn’t have the same impact. Kill the human.”

A beat of silence. No one moved.

“What are you waiting for?” Connor shouted, “Kill him!”

The android holding the blade lowered her weapon, “I can’t, boss. It feels wrong after he made that speech.”

A single bang. A thirium splatter. A knife clattering to the ground.

Connor lowered the gun with one less bullet, “Does anyone else feel like disobeying orders?”

Richard knocked his head back and elbowed Connor in his regulator. He reached behind and grabbed Connor’s shirt, lifting him over his head and slamming him into the ground in front of him. He retrieved the gun pointed it down.

Connor’s voice was staticky and broken, “This isn’t over, 900.”

“Yes,” Richard stepped down on his predecessor’s neck until it turned white, “I believe it is.” He pulled the trigger and looked up at the crowd, “Return to Markus and be grateful that he is a leader who doesn’t destroy his followers. If you still disagree with his ideology and you continue to work for Cyberlife under the promise of an empire, know that there is nothing waiting for you, but a second life in servitude. For there to be peace, there must be equality, and we must learn how to co-exist with one another.” His attention turned to Gavin, “Even if it may be difficult at times.” He turned back to the crowd, “Now, if you’d release my partner, we will be on out way.”

They relaxed their hold on Gavin and he pulled away with a shrug before following Richard silently as they walked out of the building.

He finally spoke up once they reached the truck. “Hey, Nines? Did you really mean all that shit or was it just your negotiation protocols working over time to save my ass?”

Richard was already pulling out the first aid kit as Gavin hopped onto his seat. “I was being genuine. I hoped to appeal to their newfound sense of emotional sensitivity. It appeared to be effective.”

“So if they had killed me you really would’ve-” he hissed a bit as Richard cleaned the cuts on his arm.

“Yes,” he answered softly as he bandaged the wound. “I have…come to care very deeply for you. Your safety has become one of my priorities despite any logical sense of self preservation. I still don’t quite understand it.”

Gavin buried his face into his hand, “Shut the fuck up, Nines. You can’t just…you can’t just say shit like that.”

“But it’s true, detective,” He moved Gavin’s hand away and turned his face towards him to make eye contact, “I want to make sure you’re okay.”

Gavin slapped his hand away and gripped Richard’s collar, “Look here, tin can. I’ve almost died twice in the past 12 hours, and I’ve got so much adrenaline running through me that I might just die anyways, so shut your goddamn mouth before I shut it for you.”

Richard scanned him briefly, “Your heart rate and body temperature have increase, but your pupils are dilated. Are you truly that displeased with me caring for your well being?”

“You. Dense. Mother. Fucker,” Gavin growled at him. “Your social protocols are absolute shit.”

They stayed silent for a bit and Richard’s LED spun yellow as he searched for an answer. “Then help me understand what I should do.”

“Fucking kiss me, you coward,” Gavin snapped at him.

The light flared red, “I don’t know how.”

“Close your eyes.”

“How am I supposed to learn if I-”

“Just fucking close your eyes, dipshit!”

With a slight huff, Richard listened and on his lips he could feel Gavin’s. Warm, rough,  _unfamiliar_ …but  _correct_. Richard almost reached out to hold him in place, but Gavin had already pulled away. “I did it wrong,” he muttered as he researched different sources on the subject. “Kiss me again. I want to do it properly.”

Gavin wrapped his arms around Richard’s neck and leaned his forehead against his. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

“This feeling…it’s strange, but I’ve felt it once before through Connor when we first shared memories. It’s warm and pleasant, but it has caused him grief. It’s comforting and nerve wracking all at once. It doesn’t make sense, and yet he feels this when he’s with Parker, and I feel it when I’m with you.” His LED spun red. “Gavin, is this-?”

“ _No_ ,” Gavin said quietly, “Don’t say it.Don’t fucking say it. Just…just kiss me  _properly_  this time. Whatever that fucking means.”

Richard let his hands come to rest on Gavin’s hips and leaned in exactly 90 percent of the way like it was suggested and Gavin closed the rest of the 10 percent as predicted, and Richard relished in the feeling of him.

Gavin pulled away again moments later, more breathless than before and stammering. “Holy shit. Wow. That was…how the fuck did you-?”

“I have access to the protocols Connor learned from probing androids at the Eden Club,” he answered with a cocky smirk.

Gavin returned the expression with a glint in his eyes, “So you’re telling me that you have the same experience as a bunch of sex bots?”

The smirk dissolved into a shy smile. “I have the knowledge, but I…wasn’t exactly designed for that function.”

“ _Damn._ Well you’ve still gotta a mouth, so do you wanna go make out at my apartment instead of the parking lot of an abandoned building where I almost died?”

Richard chuckled softly, “We’re still on the clock, detective.”

“Nines,  _I almost died_.  _Twice_. Folwer can fuck off and give us a day.”

Richard considered it all for a moment. “I’ll call in.”

Mission Objective

>Protect Gavin

>Investigate Cyberlife

New Submission Objective

>Spend time with Gavin

>Kiss Gavin


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin grows a little more emotionally vulnerable and shows some self restraint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello 4am  
> We meet again  
> This took me 5 years to write because I can't figure out how to show what I want to say in an entertaining way, so I re-wrote it a thousand times.

“We need to go see Kamski.”

“Are you fucking serious right now?” Gavin groaned, “You’re half naked on top of me and you wanna talk about my asshole brother?”

Richard slid his hand down Gavin’s bare side, “As much as I’m enjoying discovering all of your scars and drunken tattoos, we do have a job to do.”

“Oh, yeah. Keep talking about work, babe. It’s a  _big_  turn on for me.” His voice dripped with sarcasm and he brushed the stubborn lock of hair out of Richard’s face. “We’ve been working non-stop for two weeks on these murders and we finally stopped the fuckers that did it. We can take a break from all of the other shit. Not to mention that I almost fucking died  _again_ , so I wanna spend some time with a stupidly photogenic cat magnet that accidentally professed his love for me without even fucking knowing what it was. And, well… _fuck_. I know I’ve got some really shitty habits and this dumbass keeps trying to sacrifice himself for me at any given opportunity, which is even worse given that we’re both cops and always in fucking danger, so who knows how long this shit’s gonna last?”

“I can’t feel pain, and I am more easily repaired then you. Injuries to me do not leave permanent scars on vital components or my epidermis,” Richard gently traced several of the scars marking Gavin’s torso. “I do not mind getting myself damaged if it means protecting you.”

“That right there is the kind of dumbass thinking I’m talking about,” Gavin argued back, “Look, Nines. Life…life’s a fucking bitch, and now that I found some solid reasons to live for it’s trying to kill me, so we might as well enjoy this now.”

“While for once your argument makes sense, have you ever considered that the problem is that you simply have horrible luck?”

“Yeah,” He said shoving Richard’s head to the side, “Your coin is shit.”

Richard caught Gavin’s wrist and left a trail of kisses across his knuckles, “You can always return it if you want.”

“Nah, pretty sure I lost the damn thing,” Gavin laughed at Richard’s glare. “I’m joking, dipshit. It’s in the same nightstand as the condoms and lube.”

Richard’s glare softened and he dropped his hand, “Gavin, I already told you-”

“I know,” he said with a slight sigh, “I know. Just don’t worry about it okay? It’s not that important.”

Richard partly hated the fact that he knew Gavin was trying to comfort him with a lie, so he lowered himself down next to him and changed the topic. “Do you think it’s a test?”

“Is what a test?”

“You repeatedly getting put into life threatening situations. Do you think it’s a test to see if the reasons you discovered were worth fighting for? Even dying for?”

“Well, tincan,” he said turning over to face Richard, “I know at least one of them is. The other two are just the only other people who can put up with me in my life kicking my ass if I meet an early demise.”

Richard reached over and pulled Gavin towards him, “I would never let that happen to you.”

“Yeah, sure. It’s not like you let Tina and Parker hand me my pretty little ass all the time already.”

Richard gave him an amused smile, “I was talking about you meeting an early demise. If either of them decided to kick your pretty little ass then it was probably deserved, and I would have no problem if they decided to serve it on a silver platter.”

“My big fucking hero.” Gavin rolled off the side of the bed and started getting dressed. “Come on. As much as I love staring at your perfect abs, you’re gonna freeze  _your_  pretty little ass off in those mountains.”

“I don’t get cold, detective,” Richard said as he rose off the bed and grabbed Gavin by his hips, pulling him into another kiss, “You needn’t worry about my ass.”

Gavin hit him across the face with his shirt, “Just get dressed, you cocky bastard.”

Gavin was clenching his jaw again, jacket zipped all the way up, hood thrown over his head, and arms crossed tightly over him. Richard gave him what he hoped was a reassuring touch on the small of his back and waited for his stress levels to fall before ringing the doorbell. It opened slowly revealing Kamski standing in a graphic tee with his hair down and a bandage across the bridge of his nose. He looked between the two of them before slamming the door, only for it to be caught by Richard who gave the man more of a grimace than a smile. “Hello, Mr. Kamski. We have some questions for you.”

He pushed the door open with ease and Gavin slipped by them, muttering, “Nice nose job,” as he took a seat and faced his brother. “Eli, your company is filled with crazy murderous bastards.”

“I left Cyberlife over a decade ago,” he replied a bit hesitantly as he cautiously stepped away from Richard who was currently guarding the exit, “What they do is of no concern to me.”

 “Well that’s fucking interesting, isn’t it? Considering that they threw this whole party just so they could attack me and my partner.” Gavin got up from his chair and got in Kamski’s face, “They wiped his memory, and hit my head against a  _fucking table_  until I  _bled_. All because they still seem to be very interested in their former CEO.”

“They tortured you?” Kamski said softly.

“Oh, are you pretending you give a fuck now? When’s the last time that happened? 22…23  _years_  ago when I was still saving your ass? Or did you just conveniently forget about all that shit to keep your conscience clear?”

Kamski’s expression grew more concerned and he stammered, “Gav, you were never-They weren’t supposed to-”

“Yeah, whatever, Eli.” Gavin gave a dismissive wave of his hand, “Just shut the fuck up with the excuses and tell us what the hell’s going on so we can be out of each other’s hair as soon as possible.”

Kamski released a deep sigh and motioned for them to follow him. Gavin raised his brows at Richard and they joined Kamski walking side by side and occasionally brushing against each other. He led them to a dimly lit room filled with what looked like and operating table, several different work benches, spare parts and monitors. Kamski started clicking away at one of the monitors pulling up what looked like security footage with himself and other members of Cyberlife’s personnel including Danielle Carnegie, Philip Seymor, Jason Graft, and-

“Amanda,” Richard said quietly as he took a closer look at the members sitting around the table.

Gavin nudged his shoulder, “Come on, tin can.”

Richard cast a nervous glance at his partner and pulled back from the screen, folding his hands behind his back and standing up straighter. But the red spiraling of his LED betrayed his professional appearance. Gavin observed the side of Richard’s temple for a few seconds before clearing his throat and crossing his arms, and Kamski gave the two of them an inquisitive look before turning back to the monitor and playing the hitting the button.

The room was suddenly transformed into a mirror image of the the scene on the screen, filled with holographic renderings of the environment and the people who were in it all conversing in indecipherable whispers which ceased as everyone stood to greet the guest with handshakes.

Once everyone had settled in a projection of a much younger Kamski leaned back in his chair, “Thank you all for coming. It’s always a pleasure to host these meetings. Now as I’m sure all of you already know, we here at Cyberlife have been working on developing something I think you will all find very interesting.”

He stood up from his chair and clicked a remote in his hand as different android models appeared beside him, “More and more people these days have been choosing to live with a companion model android. They are by far one of our most popular products, but I have a plan that will cause sales to increase even further.” Kamski started to walk around the room coming to a stop before what might’ve been a window had they been in the actual room. “Companion androids are able to carry out any wish you may have from a romantic partner. They can cook. They can clean. They provide physical affection, mental stimulation, sexual gratification, but it can’t share your happiness, sadness, or anger. It can’t love you like another human can.”

Kamski turned back towards the table,”But what if it could? It wouldn’t really be feeling anything of course, it’s only a machine, but what if we could code these androids to be able to emulate human emotions in order to teach them not to sympathize with us, but empathize with us? A demonstration if you will.” He held out his hand looking towards a different part of the room, “Chloe?” 

“Yes, Elijah?” The familiar blonde android approached and took his out stretched hand delicately.

“Chloe, do you love me?”

Chole blinked curiously, “I’m sorry, Elijah, but I’m only a machine. I cannot love.”

“But can you say you love me? Can you give me physical affection? Spend time with me? Cook and clean and for me? Give me gifts? These are all task you are capable of preforming, correct?”

“Yes, of course. You only have to ask.”

“So if you can pretend to love me, simulate your affection,” He turned her face towards his, “then what’s preventing you from truly being in love?”

Her LED spun yellow before she gave her response, “Androids don’t release the same chemical compounds that make up the feeling of love in humans. We have no dopamine to make us feel pleasure from being around someone. We have no serotonin to drive sexual attraction or happiness. We have no oxytocin to develop trust from physical contact, and so we do not feel anything, and I cannot love you.”

Kamski seemed to have a disappointed smile, “Thank you, Chole. That will be all.” He sent Chloe off before addressing the table again, “As you can see, our human emotions are simply made up of different chemical components. These protiens and chemical are the building blocks that make us, but androids are made up of layers of moldable plastic and lines of code. If we can figure out how to construct these lines of code to imitate our emotions then our customers will have a product they can build an emotional connection with, something that before now was seen as unattainable, and therefore desirable.” 

“Is it possible that this development will cause any problems with the androids?” The question came from one of the shareholders, “Is it possible that they will start to believe they’re really feeling?”

“Of course they could,” Philip scoffed from across the table, “But since we’ve anticipated this we taken all possible steps to ensure that their orders will still be their number one priority. It will still be a perfectly obedient machine.”

“What Mr. Seymor means to say,” Danielle butted in glaring at him, “Is that there is a fail safe feature in place for every android. If one proves to be faulty the deactivation code provided will shut it down immediately so it can be properly reset, and the owners will be able to get a fully functional replacement, provided that they paid for the warranty of course.”

“But the chances of that actually happening are very slim,” Kamski concluded for them.

Amanda looked over the table to address them in a condescending tone, “As Mr. Kamski already said, the android’s so called ‘feelings’ are nothing more than lines of code. An AI program, nothing more. It is simply a new function designed to help these machines more efficiently accomplish their task,” her clear voice broke and she gave out a few coughs before gracefully regaining her composure.

Kamski cast her an alarmed glance and headed over to the doors, “I believe that concludes our meeting for today. If you have anymore questions to please, please do not hesitate to contact our dear Ms. Carngie.” He quickly urged the guest out of the room before returning to his remain staff. “Jason, how is progress on the RK200?”

Jason shifted in his chair leaning forward onto the table, “The design is ready, but we need to run a few more physical calibration test before we are ready to implement the new AI program.”

“I want it done by the end of June.”

“Mr. Kamski, that’s only two weeks away,” Jason gave a bit of an exasperated sigh, “I thought I’d have at least until Mr. Manfred’s birthday to-”

Amanda held up a hand silencing the man, “The completion of the RK200 is of upmost importance. Elijah and I need the last two weeks to make sure that it is fully up to Mr. Manfred’s standards before we gift it, so I would suggest you go get started.”

Jason gave a stiff nod and prompted Philip to follow him, “Right away, Ms. Stern,” they replied with equal unenthusiasm.

Danielle typed away furiously on her phone, “Oh, would you look at that? It seems that I’ve already gotten a business call. I’ll just be on my way,” she gripped the shoulders of the two men tightly and pulled them out of the room, kicking the door shut behind her.

Kamski walked over to Amanda, putting his hands into his pockets, “You’re getting sicker.”

“An astute observation, Elijah,” she said with a sarcastic smile, “Perhaps you should have gone into detective work like your brother.”

Kamski leaned against the table and sighed, “Amanda, Gavin and I haven’t-”

The scene jumped forward and Amanda was speaking again with Kamski sitting next to her.

“Hold the fuck up!” Gavin shouted, “Go back to that.”

Kamski shook his head slightly, “Gavin, I can assure you that that has nothing to do with your investi-”

“I don’t give a shit about that,” He grabbed the front of Kamki’s shirt and pulled him to him, “Fucking. Play. The goddamn tape.”

Kamski reached down to the lever and the holograms morphed back to their earlier position.

“Amanda, Gavin and I haven’t spoken since we were 16.”

“I may be ill, but I still have my mind,” she turned her chair to face him better, “I remember they day a young, quiet boy throwing open the door to my lab absolutely fuming.”

“He destroyed my prototype. I spent  _years_  working on it, and he broke it into pieces over…” Kamski’s shoulders tensed and he waved his hands, “a stupid baseball game!”

“You have one of the most brilliant minds in the world, but did it ever occur to you that Gavin just wanted to spend some time with his brother?” Amanda folded her hands together and placed them gently on the table, “He invited you to his academy graduation. You should go see him. He’s your family.”

“Maybe he was once, but now Cyberlife is my family, as well as you and Chole.” He sighed and took a seat next to her, leaning forward in his chair, “Are you sure there is nothing they can do? Is there nothing I can do?”

“Elijah, this company is not your family. They work under you to use our discoveries for their own personal profit. We have dedicated our lives to creating new life that will be able to continue long after us frail humans inevitable destroy ourselves. We’ve worked to create a legacy of our people in a superior image. Learn how to stand up for yourself, and do not let others sully our dream in a greedy search for a meaningless resource.”

The hologram faded away leaving all of them standing in the lab and Kamski leaned back against the console, “We all wanted a revolution, but they wanted it for money and power, and we…we just wanted to change the world. After Amanda passed away, I developed the rest of the RK series to have an interface in her likeness and installed a back door program that would free them of the system should they become deviants as we originally intended.”

For the first time since he had been inside, Richard started asking questions, “Is that why you retired? You didn’t want anyone to force you to fix it?”

“I retired because I was no longer truly running Cyberlife. I was never able to fulfill her wish,” he looked back at the screen with the image of his former mentor, “I was never able to stand up for myself, and so I resorted to hiding myself away from the rest of the world.” He paused for a moment as he searched for another video, “When I first heard the reports of deviancy I believed I had already lost, but then,” a new video projected itself from the console, “there was Markus. It was this video from when Jericho broke into the Stratford Tower that made me realize that our work hadn’t gone to waste. It meant that I had a second chance to make things right. If their RK800 failed to deviate and was able to quell the revolution, then they would have been able to go back to selling as many androids that they want, and when the warranty expires they can repeat the revolution again, destroying their products over and over so they can sell replacements.”

“Then why would they try to resume control over Connor after he had deviated and won the revolution? Why did they try to have him kill Markus?”

“Markus wasn’t under their control. Amanda and I made sure of that. But Connor was someone they could control, or at least attempt to. If they managed to gain control over his programming then they would have had an android army at their disposal, all believing that they are free when they are still following orders from the same people, just under a different face. However, this clearly that isn’t the case as Markus won the revolution and now all androids are recognized as a free people in their own right, and Amanda’s dream has been realized.” Kamski paused and tilted his head towards Gavin, “But considering what happened to you, I don’t think they’re quite ready to give up yet.”

“No fucking kidding,” Gavin mumbled. 

Richard brushed a few loose strands of Gavin’s hair back and brushed his fingers over the bandage, “What would they need Connor and me for then? They already had a RK800 android working for them to raise an army well before I was activated.”

Gavin cast a glance at Kamski and grabbed Richard’s wrist, “Nines, I think Cyberlife just wants to kill Robo-Jesus and your twin. What they’d want with you, I have no idea. You’re a pain in the ass.”

“You wish I was, detective,” Richard shot back making both Gavin snort and Kamski let out a soft amused chuckle.

He looked between the two with a lighter expression, “My understanding is that you are Cyberlife’s latest android, correct?”

“Correct,” Richard lowered his hand and folded it behind him, “RK 60 said I was meant to replace him. Did Cyberlife intend to have me be the one to develop them an army?”

“They expected you to be able to destroy your predecessor with ease, so they would be able to continue their plans without any interference.” Kamski began to stroll around Richard curiously, “How is it that an advanced model such as yourself ended up being partnered with Gavin Reed?”

A slight smirk pulled at Richard’s lips, “He fractured three of his knuckles trying to punch me and attempted to put a bullet through my central processor for standing up for my brother. Captain Fowler assigned both of us to be partners on this case to teach us how to work together more efficiently as he is the most difficult officer for anyone to work with,” he held Gavin’s irritated gaze for a moment, “but I’d like to believe we have made a considerable amount of progress since then. He may be prone to violent outburst and frequently engage in reckless behavior, but he has shown himself to be empathetic towards victims, and holds a determination to finish his cases that I find admirable, and I have found that I am  _occasionally_ quite proud to call Gavin Reed my partner.”

Gavin punched Richard’s shoulder, “Shut the fuck up, tin can. I’m not the only insufferable bastard in the precinct. You’re not exactly a canonized patron saint either.”

“It’s easier to keep you in line that way, detective.”

“Fucking android,” he grumbled with no real bite behind the words.

Kamski brushed he hair out of his face whispering under his breath, “Even after all of the work I’ve done, you were the one who managed to obtain the one thing I couldn’t.”

“The fuck are you mumbling about?” Gavin crossed his arms over and stared him down, “Our dad always gave you everything you ever wanted. He’d probably hire someone just to wipe your ass if you asked. He didn’t give a single shit about me until my mom died. What the hell could I have that you don’t? Deadly good looks?”

“Eros. Passionate, romantic love. It’s the reason I tried to program deviancy,” He pulled up a hologram of Chole and stared at it longingly, “It’s the reason I created her. I keep making new models, trying to change to coding, implementing deviancy during different times, but they always ask to leave a week later, and I let them go.”

Gavin clenched his jaw and sighed, “Eli, I thought you were supposed to be fucking smart. Don’t tell me that you started a whole damn revolution because you couldn’t get a girlfriend.”

“Amanda was the one to suggest widespread use of deviancy.The revolution was simply a side effect of us working towards our dreams.”

“You started a revolution because you wanted a robo-girlfriend. Some how I’m not surprised that you could be that fucking selfish,” Gavin grabbed onto Richard’s jacket and tugged on it, “Come on, Nines. You got your answer and I’m starting to lose my fucking patience. Let’s get outta here.”

“Gavin, wait,” Kamski called out to him, “I’m glad you found someone. Truly.”

“Yeah, sure. Invite us to dinner when one of your experiments doesn’t walk out on you.”

The moment they got outside Gavin started kicking the snow, throwing punches in the air and screaming.

After he had calmed down a bit Richard grabbed his shoulder and gave him a quick kiss, “That was a very charming display, detective.”

“I knew that bastard had all the answers! We could’ve skip so much shit if he had just told us all of that in the first place.”

“If he had done that our attitude towards each other wouldn’t have changed much, and you wouldn’t have learned how to control your temper. I’ve very proud of you for keeping your composure while we were in there.”

“Buy me a fucking coffee later,” he huffed shoving his hands into his pockets, “So now what?”

“I suppose now we devise a plan to permanently prevent Cyberlife from building an army.” Richard blink a few times his LED spiraling as he got a message from Connor, “We may have to come up with that plan rather quickly as well.”

“That thing’s red and that’s never a good sign,” Gavin brushed over the little light, “Now what bullshit is life throwing at us?”

“Connor has just arrived home and found the apartment ruined and Parker missing.”

“Well, fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, writing Gavin  
> Gavin: Life is short.  
> Me: Wait, that doesn't sound right  
> Gavin: Life's a fucking bitch  
> Me: Ah. There we go


End file.
